ADDRESSES 


DELIVBRED    AT  THE 


CELEBRATION  OF  THE  CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 


General  Assembly 


Of  THE 


Presbyterian  Church, 


MAY  24TH,  1888 


rSLISHED    BY 

MaCJCALIvA  &  COIMPANY, 
'*237-0   Dock:  Street, 

Tf  PHILADELPHIA. 


tihvaxy  of  Che  Cheolo^icd  ^emmarjo 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

Dr.  John  DeWitt 


BX  8951  .A33  1888  "^ 

Roberts,  William  Henry,  1844 

-1920, 
Addresses  delivered  at  the 

celebration  of  the 


resV  '"'■'■'-'  '["-  JUL  10  1919 


jsmi  m} 
ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED   AT  THE 

CELEBRATION  OF  THE  CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

General  Assembly 


Presbyterian  Church, 


]V[AY  24TH,  1888. 


PUBLISHED    BY 

M:ACCALLA  &  COJvlPAlSIY, 
237-9   Docl<  Street, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1888,  by 

MacCalla  &  Company, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


P/!£SS  OF 

M^acCalla  &  Company 
philadelphia.  . 


INTRODUCTORY 


^I^HE  Presbyterian  system  of  faitli  and  government  came  to 
the  American  continent  witli  the  earliest  settlers  of 
English,  Scotch  and  French  origin.  Presbyterian  churches 
existed  in  the  colonies  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  but  the  first  Presbytery  was  not  organized  until  1706. 
The  General  Synod,  having  under  its  care  four  Presbyteries, 
was  erected  in  1716,  and  the  complete  organization  of  the 
Church  was  secured  in  1788,  by  the  establishment  of  a  General 
Assembly  and  the  adoption  by  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  of  the  Constitution.  The  Assembly  of  1888  is, 
tlierefore,  the  One  Hundredth  General  Assembly  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America, 

The  Assembly  of  1885  appointed  a  Permanent  Committee 
of  Arrangements  to  make  suitable  preparation  for  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Centennial  Meeting,  and  the  committee  was 
continued  by  the  Assemblies  of  1886  and  1887.  The 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States,  being  the  Presbyterian  Church  located  within  what  are 
called  the  Southern  States,  upon  invitation  cordially  united 
with  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  preparation  for  the  joint  celebr-a 
tion  of  this  auspicious  anniversary.  The  committees  of  the 
two  Assemblies  met  in  joint  session  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  in 
December,  1885,  and  the  arrangements  effected  by  them  were 
reported  to  and  approved  by  the  respective  Assemblies.  The 
following  is  the  programme  of  the  Centennial  celebration. 


Morning   Progrramme. 

TEN  O'CLOCK. 

I.— IN  THE  ACADEMY  OP  MUSIC. 

PRESIDING  OFFICER. 

Rev.  J.  J.  Bullock,  D.D., 

The  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S. 

1.  History  of  Presbyterianism (see  page  3) 

Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.D.,  Brooklyn,  New  York. 

2.  The  Work  of  Presbyterianism  for  the  Future (see  page  18) 

T.  Dwight  Witherspoon,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Louisville,  Kentucky. 


II.— IN  HORTICULTURAL  HALL. 

PRESIDING  OFFICER. 

Rev.  Charles  L.  Thompson,  D.D., 

The  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A . 

1.  Calvinism  and  Religious  Liberty (see  page  151) 

Hon.  William  C.  P.  Breckinridge,  M.C.,  Lexington,  Kentucky. 

2.  Presbyterianism  and  Biblical  Scholarship (see  page  185) 

Howard  Crosby,  D.D.,  LL  D.,  New  York  City. 


Afternoon    Programme. 

THREE  O'CLOCK. 

I.— IN  THE  ACADEMY  OP  MUSIC. 

PRESIDING  OFFICER. 

Justice  William  Strong,  LL.D.,  U.  S.  Supreme  Court,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 

1.  The  Adaptation  of  Presbyterianism  to  the  Masses..  .  .(see  page  172) 

Hon.  John  Randolph  Tucker,  Lexington,  Virginia. 

2.  Presbyterianism  and  Education (see  page  31) 

Simon  J.  McPherson,  D.D.,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

3.  Calvinism  and  Human  Progress (see  page  47) 

Hon.  James  S.  Cothran,  M.C,  Abbeville,  South  Carolina. 

4.  Presbyterianism  and  Republican  Government (see  page  55) 

Hon.  Samuel  J.  R.  McMillan,  Alternate,  St.  Paul,  Minnesota. 


II.— IN  HORTICULTURAL  HALL. 

PRESIDING  OFFICER. 

Hon.  John  L.  Marye,  Fredericksburg,  Virginia. 

1.  City  Evangelization— Its  'Necessity (see  page  71) 

John  Hall,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  New  York  City. 

2.  City  Evangelization — Its  Methods (see  page  77) 

Moses  D.  Hoge,  D.D.,  Richmond,  Virginia. 

3.  Preaching  to  the  Masses (see  page  88) 

Samuel  J.  Niccolls,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

4.  Lay  Effort  among  the  Masses (see  page  160) 

Hon.  Bennett  H.  Young,  Louisville,  Kentucky. 

Evening   Programme. 

EIGHT  O'CLOCK. 

I.— IN  THE  ACADEMY  OP  MUSIC. 

PRESIDING  OFFICER. 

Hon.  Alfred  Moore  Scales,  Governor  of  North  Carolina. 

1.  Home  Missions (see  page  96) 

George  P.  Hays,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

2.  Foreign  Missions (see  page  105) 

Matthew  Hale  Houston,  D.D.,  Baltimore,  Maryland. 

3.  Historic  Presbyterian  Characters (see  page  115) 

Charles  L.  Thompson,  D.D.,  Kansas  Cily,  Missouri. 

4.  Closing  Address (see  page  206) 

Jerry  Witherspoon,  D.D.,  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

II.— IN  HORTICULTURAL  HALL. 

PRESIDING  OFFICER. 

Hon.  James  A.  Beaver,  Governor  of  Pennsylvania. 

1.  Home  Missions (see  page  125) 

Walter  W.  Moore,  D.D.,  Union  Theo.  Sem.,  Hampden  Sidney,  Virginia. 

2.  Foreign  Missions (see  page  138) 

Charles  S.  Pomeroy,  D.D.,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

3.  The  Children  of  the  Covenant (see  page  192) 

Givens  B.  Strickler,  D.D.,  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

4.  Memories  and  Duties (see  page  197) 

William  P.  Breed,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 

A  Revised  Edition  of  these  Addresses  will  be  issued  within  a  few  days. 


Permanent  Committee  of  Arrangements 

FOR   THE 

looth  General  Assembly 


Presbyterian  Church    in   the   United  States  of 

America. 

(Appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  in  1885,  and  continued  in  1886  and  xSSy.) 


MINISTERS. 


Joseph  T.  Smith,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Chairman^ 

William  PI.  Eoberts,  D.D.,  Stcretary,  . 

William  E.  Moore,  D.D,, 

David  C.  Marquis,  D.D., 

Elijah  E.  Craven,  D.D., 

George  P.  Hays,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Henry  J.  Yan  Dyke,  D.D., 

Henry  A.  Nelson,  D.D,, 

William  P.  Breed,  D.D., 

T.  Ralston  Smith,  D.D.,       . 

George  C.  Noyes,  D.D.,    . 

George  C.  Heckman,  D.D., 

RULING  ELDERS 

Justice  William  Strong,  LL,D,, 

Hon,  Samuel  M.  Breckinridge,  LL.D., 

Wilham  B.  Negley, 

George  Junkin, 

William  E.  Dodge, 

Samuel  C.  Perkins,     . 

Hon,  George  H.  Shields, 

Warner  Van  Norden, 

Ralph  E,  Prime, 

Wilham  Howard  Neff, 

William  McAlpin, 


,    Baltimore  Md. 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Columbus,  Ohio 

.     Chicago,  Illinois 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

.     Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Brooklyn,  New  York 

.  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Buffalo,  New  York 

Evanston,  Illinois 
.     Cincinnati,  Ohio 


Washington,  D.C- 

.  St,  Louis,  Missouri 

,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

.    Philadelphia,  Pa. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

.    Philadelphia,  Pa. 

St.  Louis,  Missouri 

.  New  York,  N.  Y. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

.     Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 


Committee  of  Arrangements 

OF   THE 

Presbyterian   Church   in    the   United    States 

FOR  THE 

Centennial  Celebration  of  the  General  Assembly, 

(Appointed  in  1887.) 


MEMBERS. 

Eev.  James  Power  Smitli,  Chairman^  Fredericksburg,  Virginia 

Eev.  Moses  D.  Hoge,  D.D.,      .         .  .  Eichmond,  Virginia 

Eev.  Eobert  E.  Howison,    .         .         .  Eicliinond,  Virginia 

Hon.  Charles  F.  Collier,           .         .  .  Petersburg,  Virginia 

Eobert  T.  Brooke,  Esq.,      .         .         .  Eichmond,  Virginia 

Eev.  Charles  E.  Hemphill,  D.D.,     .  Louisville,  Kentucky 

Eev.  A.  Nelson  Hollifield,  D.D.,          .  St.  Louis,  Missouri 


HISTORICAL   ADDRESS. 


By  Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.D., 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


THAT  great  clock  of  Time,  which  measures  the  march  of 
man  and  the  progress  of  Christ's  kingdom,  has  struck 
the  completion  of  another  century  in  the  history  of  Pres- 
byterianism.  This  was  not,  bj  any  means,  its  first  century. 
There  had  been  seventeen  centuries  before  this — stretching  back 
to  the  time  when  the  Apostle  Paul  rocked  its  cradle,  bearing 
this  inscription, — "  Neglect  not  the  gift  that  is  in  thee,  which 
was  given  thee  by  prophecy,  with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands 
of  the  Presbytery^''  Paul  and  his  fellow-apostles  gave  it  its 
two  distinctive  features — the  parity  of  the  ministry  and  the 
office  of  the  Eldership.  There  was  the  ovum  of  a  General 
Assembly  in  that  convocation  of  Apostles  and  Elders  at  Jeru- 
salem, which  sent  out  its  deliverances  to  the  Gentile  brethren 
of  Antioch  and  Syria.  Five  centuries  later,  Presbyterianism 
spake  in  the  majestic  voice  of  Augustine,  who  formulated  and 
defended  our  chief  doctrines  of  Grace.  Later  on,  appear  those 
two  massive  pillars  in  the  Presbyterian  structure,  John  Calvin" 
and  John  Knox,  the  "Jachin"  and  "Boaz"  whose  joint 
names  signify  "He  will  establish  it  in  strength."  In  Switzer- 
land and  in  Scotland  Presbyterianism  was  the  symbol  and  the 
synonym  of  Freedom.  If  it  had  not  been  for  Scottish  Cove- 
nanters, the  tyrannic  Charles  the  I  might  never  have  come  to 
the  scaffold;  the  heroic  William  III  might  never  have  come 
to  the  throne,  Presbyterianism  gave  to  Christendom  the 
Westminster  Confession,  that  unrivaled  symbol  of  faith  which 
emphasizes  the  sovereignty  of  Jehovah  in  the  heavens,  and  the 
kingship  of  Jesus  Christ  in  His  Church,  Its  pulpits  have 
echoed  to  the  eloquence  of  Chalmers,  the  prince  of  ministers, 
and  of  Alexander  Duff,  the  prince  of  missionaries.  Of  its  polity 
the  great  President  Edwards  testified  that  "the  Presbyterian 
way  has  ever  appeared  to  me  the  most  agreeable  to  the  Word 
of  God  and  to  the  reason  and  the  nature  of  things."  It  has 
shed  its  instructive  and  influential  side-lights  upon  all  sister 
denominations ;  and  to-day  the  greatest  of  living  preachers — 
Mr.  Spurgeon — is  constrained  to  govern  the  greatest  of  Chris- 
tian congregations  by  a  numerous  Board  of  Elders.     And  so, 


my  dear  brethren,  has  hard-headed,  long-winded,  stout-hearted 
Presbyterianism  marched  down  through  the  centuries  into 
these  times  "  with  cunning  in  its  ten  fingers  and  strength  in  its 
right  arm." 

Into  the  details  of  our  ecclesiastical  history  during  the  per- 
iod of  our  country's  colonization,  I  have  no  time  to  enter  now. 
There  is  a  mist  of  uncertainty  still  hanging  over  the  infancy 
of  Presbyterianism  in  the  American  colonies.  The  Protes- 
tants from  Holland,  who  settled  New  York,  held  many  of  the 
distinguishing  features  of  our  form  of  Church  polity.  There 
was  also  a  Puritan  type  of  Presbyterianism  which  planted  a 
few  churches  on  Long  Island  and  in  East  Jersey,  between  1641 
and  1670.  Eev.  Matthew  Hill  (the  correspondent  of  Richard 
Baxter)  and  Rev.  Richard  Denton  were  pioneers  in  these  mis- 
sionary churches.  The  Rev.  William  Traill,  from  the  Irish 
Presbytery  of  Laggan,  a  friend  of  Francis  Makemie,  preached 
on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  as  early  as  1683 ; 
but  we  have  no  definite  record  of  any  churches  organized  by 
him.  Through  the  mist  that  overhangs  that  border-land,  we 
can  dimly  discern  two  or  three  feeble  churches  sprouting  into 
existence  about  the  year  of  grace,  1684,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Pocomoke  river,  in  Eastern  Maryland.  One  of  the  two  first- 
born churches  is  at  Snow  Hill  and  the  other  at  Eehoboth — a 
prophetic  name  which  signifies  "room,"  and  those  early 
pioneers  might  well  say  "  now  the  Lord  hath  made  room  for 
us,  and  we  shall  be  fruitful  in  the  land."  Through  the  fog  we 
also  discern  the  historic  figure  of  the  missionary-pastor  Fran- 
cis Makemie.  He  was  born  near  Rathmelton,  County 
Donegal,  on  the  storm-swept  north-western  coast  of  Ireland ; 
he  has  Scottish  blood  in  his  veins ;  was  educated  in  a  Scottish 
university  on  the  Clyde,  and  his  effectual  calling  was  as  a 
missionary  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  wilds  of  America.  A  heroic 
figure  is  this  stalwart  Scotch-Irish  Makemie,  not  afraid  of  wild 
beasts  nor  of  the  tyrannical  bigots  who  imprisoned  him  in  New 
York  "  as  a  strolling  preacher  "  twenty  years  afterwards.  He 
goes  over  to  Britain  to  beat  up  volunteer  missionaries  for  the 
colonies,  and  returns  in  time  to  take  part  in  organizing  the 
first  Presbytery  about  the  close  of  the  year  1705.  It  bore  the 
name  of  "  Philadelphia ; "  and  was  probably  organized  in  this 
goodly  city.  The  seven  ministers  who  composed  it  were 
Francis  Makemie,  George  Macnish,  John  Hampton,  Samuel 
Davis,  John  Wilson,  Jedediah  Andrews  and  Nathanael  Taylor. 
Ten  years  later  the  first  Synod  was  organized,  consisting  of 
three  Presbyteries,  with  twenty-three  ministers  and  about 
thirty  churches. 

In  1729  the  Synod  solemnly  declare  their  agreement  with 
the  Westminster  Confession  and  Catechism  as  "  being  in  all 


the  essential  articles,  good  forms  of  sound  words  and  systems  of 
Christian  doctrine."  That  doctrinal  basis,  thus  established,  has 
stood  like  adamant  for  one  hundred  and  sixty  years;  and  it 
will  continue  to  stand  until  it  upholds  many  a  millennial 
church  in  the  times  of  the  latter-day  glory. 

That  a  vigorous  controversy  should  have  arisen  in  the  Synod 
was  just  what  might  have  been  expected.  They  would  not 
have  been  strong-willed  and  warm-blooded  Scotch- Irishmen 
if  they  had  not  come  into  collisions.  And,  as  is  frequently 
the  case  when  Presbyterians  quarrel,  both  sides  were  right  1 
The  "Old  Side  "  were  right  in  their  intense  loyalty  to  our  sym- 
bols of  faith,  and  in  their  demand  for  an  educated  ministry 
wherever  it  was  possible.  The  "New  Side" — which  embraced 
the  majority  in  number,  and  the  preponderance  in  aggressive 
zeal — were  right  in  maintaining  that  the  great  revivals  under 
Whitefield  and  Tennent  were  from  heaven  and  not  from  men. 
The  one  side  were  obstinately  conservative ;  the  other  side 
were  obstinately  progressive ;  but  neither  side  could  long  do 
without  the  other. 

Signals  of  reunion  were  exchanged ;  and  after  a  rehearsal 
of  the  same  negotiations  and  the  same  ceremonies  which  were 
to  be  repeated  one  hundred  years  afterwards,  the  separated 
Synods  became  one.  The  reunited  Synod  contained  ninety- 
four  ministers — three-fourths  of  whom  had  worn  the  "  New 
Side"  badge. 

The  man  whose  portly  commanding  figure  filled  the  Moder- 
ator's chair  on  that  29th  of  May,  1758,  was  the  man  whose 
tongue  of  flame  had  done  most  to  cleave  the  denomination 
asunder ;  but  his  heart  of  flame  had  helped  to  melt  and  mould 
it  again  together.  Gilbert  Tennent  was  the  most  powerful 
member  of  the  most  powerful  family  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  that  era.  His  terrific  and  soul-searching  style  of 
preaching  shook  Boston  as  with  a  cyclone;  it  gave  him  the 
leadership  of  the  revivals  which  then  swept  over  the  land. 
His  Irish  father,  the  celebrated  WilHam  Tennent,  brought 
him  over  from  Ireland  in  his  childhood,  and  took  him  to  that 
rustic  spot  on  the  banks  of  the  Neshaminy  creek  which  has 
become  classic  in  the  history  of  our  Church.  There  our 
Elisha  planted  our  first  school  of  the  prophets.  There  Wil- 
liam Tennent  and  his  four  sons — all  to  be  faithful  ministers  of 
Christ — piled  those  rude  logs  which  were  to  be  as  historic  as 
the  rails  split  by  the  rustic  Abraham  Lincoln  in  Illinois. 
Verily  Tennent  "builded  better  than  he  knew."  That  log- 
college,  twenty  feet  square  and  chinked  with  mud,  contained 
in  its  rude  husk  the  seeds  of  Princeton  College,  and  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  and  all  the  great  training-schools  of  our  Faith 
on  the  continent.     To-day  let  us  uncover  our  heads  reverently 


6 

in  honor  of  the  Tennents ;  there  is  no  nobler  name  in  the  early 
annals  of  American  Presbyterianism. 

Another  man  was  in  that  Eeunion  Synod  whose  eloquence 
reached  the  high -water  mark  of  pulpit  oratory  in  that  cen- 
tury. Samuel  Davies,  with  Welsh  iron  in  his  blood,  and  the 
sweetness  of  Christ  Jesus  in  his  soul,  stirred  the  heart  of  Vir- 
ginia for  the  gospel  of  salvation  as  Patrick  Henry  stirred  it 
afterwards  for  civil  independence.  Let  us  take  honest  pride 
in  the  fact  that  the  first  American  preacher  who  conquered 
the  admiration  of  the  mother  country  was  the  Presbyterian 
Davies — a  farmer's  son  and  a  pupil  of  the  Fagg's  Manor 
training-school.  What  he  might  have  become  if  his  life  had 
reached  its  full  ripeness  we  can  only  conjecture ;  but  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-seven  he  was  laid  beside  his  great  prede- 
cessor Edwards  in  the  hallowed  mould  of  Princeton  Cemetery. 

One  other  figure  in  that  first  century  of  our  Church  looms 
so  large  that  we  cannot  overlook  him  if  we  would.  When 
Davies  visited  Scotland  in  1 754  he  encountered  a  keen,  satirical 
pamphlet  aimed  at  the  "  Moderates,"  and  ascribed  to  a  certain 
young  "  Mr.  Weatherspoon."  The  "  canny  "  young  man  was 
a  lineal  descendant  of  John  Knox,  with  his  great  ancestor's 
holy  abhorrence  of  both  priestcraft  and  tyranny.  It  was  a 
sagacious  act  in  Princeton  College  to  choose  him  for  its  Presi- 
dent; it  "blazed  the  road"  for  another  illustrious  Scotch 
President  in  our  day,  whose  white  head  is  honored  with  loving 
reverence  throughout  the  Republic.  Witherspoon's  two  visits 
to  Philadelphia  made  him  immortal.  The  first  one  was  to  the 
Synod  in  1775,  when  he  aroused  them  to  issue  that  pastoral 
letter  for  independence,  which  had  in  it  the  ring  of  a  trumpet. 
His  second  visit  was  to  a  seat  in  the  Continental  Congress  in 
July,  1776.  He  got  there  just  in  time  to  tell  Congress  that 
"  the  country  was  not  only  ripe  for  freedom,  but  would  soon 
be  rotten  for  the  want  of  it."  He  got  there  in  time  to  write 
the  only  name  of  a  Presbyterian  parson  under  the  name  of 
Hancock  on  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Before  he  in- 
scribed it,  he  uttered  the  manly  words,  "  Although  these  gray 
hairs  must  descend  soon  into  the  sepulchre,  I  would  infinitely 
rather  that  they  should  descend  thither  by  the  hand  of  the 
public  executioner  than  desert,  at  this  crisis,  the  sacred  cause 
of  my  country."  The  name  of  John  Witherspoon  is  one  of 
the  brightest  jewels  in  our  coronal ;  it  is  the  only  name  of  a 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ  that  is  graven  on  the  pedestal  of  a  civic 
statue  on  the  American  soil.  • 

During  the  protracted  Revolutionary  struggle  our  Church 
made  little  progress.  The  hand  that  wielded  the  sword  was 
busier  than  the  hand  that  wielded  the  trowel.  Presbyterians, 
almost  to  a  man,  were  rebels.     Many  of  our  ministers  went 


into  the  patriot- army  as  chaplains ;  some  of  them  run  their 
convictions  into  bullet-moulds  and  fired  at  the  foe  with  Cal- 
vinistic  precision.  Some,  like  the  heroic  Caldwell,  sealed  their 
devotion  with  their  blood.  The  end  of  the  war  saw  church 
edifices  desecrated  or  desolated,  congregations  scattered,  the 
ministry  impoverished,  the  National  Synod  so  shattered  that 
only  fifteen  ministers  and  four  elders  answered  to  the  roll-call ! 
The  machinery  of  the  Church  of  Christ  was  in  a  condition  well 
nigh  as  chaotic  as  the  civil  machinery  of  the  State.  But  out 
of  this  chaos  there  slowly  emerged  a  twofold  organic  con- 
struction. Two  sets  of  builders  were  busied  at  the  same  time, 
and  completed  their  work  at  about  the  same  time.  It  is  a 
striking  fact  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and 
the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  had 
a  simultaneous  birth.  On  the  17th  of  September,  1787,  the 
framers  of  our  Federal  Constitution  completed  that  instrument 
which  the  greatest  of  living  men — Mr.  Gladstone — has  pro- 
nounced to  be  ''  the  most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  oS'  at  a 
given  time  by  the  brain  and  purpose  of  man."  Its  adoption 
was  consummated  in  1788. 

The  first  steps  toward  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  American  Presbyterian  Church  were  taken  by  the  Synod 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  in  May,  1785.  The  commit- 
tee then  appointed  made  a  report  the  next  year.  Another 
committee  was  appointed,  which  met  in  the  autumn  of  1786 
and  digested  a  draft  which  was  sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries 
for  examination.  The  Presbyteries  returned  their  opinions  and 
suggestions  during  the  year  following;  and  on  the  16th  of 
May,  1788,  the  Synod  adopted  and  ratified  the  "  Constitution 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America." 
Let  us  render  our  hearty  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  the  wis- 
dom vouchsafed  to  our  fathers  in  constructing  these  twain 
Constitutions  which  were  born  together  in  this  beautiful  city, 
and  which  have  dwelt  together  as  the  "  tutamen  et  decus  "  of 
our  civil  and  ecclesiastical  organisms. 

With  the  adoption  of  the  Presbyterian  Constitution  came  the 
organization  of  the  first  General  Assembly — in  May,  1788.  It 
embraced  four  Synods,  seventeen  Presbyteries,  180  ministers 
and  419  congregations.  During  the  next  year  the  Assembly 
held  its  first  annual  meeting  in  this  city — which  has  always 
been  the  peculiar  home  of  Presbyterianism.  There  are  gray- 
headed  Philadelphians  who  still  remember  the  plain  brick 
edifice  which  stood  at  the  corner  of  Arch  and  Third  streets; 
its  pulpit  was  on  one  side  of  the  audience-room,  after  the  old 
Scotch  fashion.  The  church  which  worshiped  there  had  been 
founded  by  "Whitfield ;  its  earliest  minister  was  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent ;  and  you  will  pardon  a  bit  of  personal  pride  when  I  say 


8 

tliat  a  venerated  kinsman,  of  my  own  name,  was  the  pastor  of 
that  church  for  many  years.  In  that  simple  austere  edifice  the 
first  Assembly  held  its  sessions.  It  might  have  been  accommo- 
dated in  a  modern  Pullman  car ;  for  it  contained  only  thirty- 
four  commissioners  (twenty-three  ministers  and  eleven  ruling 
elders).  Traveling  in  those  times  was  slow  and  costly.  The 
swiftest  stage- wagons  occupied  two  whole  days  in  the  transit 
from  New  York  to  Philadelphia.  Good  Moses  Hoge — after- 
wards the  President  of  "  Hampden  Sydney  " — must  have  spent 
a  round  week  in  his  horseback  journey  from  the  Presbytery  of 
Lexington,  in  the  heart  of  Virginia. 

Of  the  proceedings  of  that  first  Assembly  we  have  but  brief 
records.  Dr.  John  Witherspoon,  in  broad  Scotch  vernacular, 
delivered  the  opening  discourse  from  the  words,  "  I  (Paul)  have 
planted,  Apollos  watered,  but  God  gave  the  increase."  A 
psalm  or  two,  in  the  musical  version  of  Dr.  Isaac  Watts,  were 
sung;  and  Dr.  John  Kodgers,  adorned  withhislarge  white  wig, 
ascended  the  Moderator's  chair.  Eodgers  was  a  native  of  Bos- 
ton, first  awakened  under  Whitfield,  received  his  Doctorate  of 
Divinity  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  was  the  patriarch  of 
Presbyterianism  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Dr.  George  Duf- 
field,  of  Philadelphia,  the  ancestor  of  a  noble  line  of  ministers, 
was  chosen  Stated  Clerk.  One  of  the  earliest  acts  of  the  As- 
sembly was  the  adoption  of  a  congratulatory  address  to  Presi- 
dent Washington,  whom  they  honor  for  "  his  amiable  example 
of  piety  towards  God,  benevolence  towards  men,  and  his 
pure  and  virtuous  patriotism."  The  reply  of  Pater  Patriee  was 
a  model  of  modesty  and  dignity. 

The  sessions  of  that  General  Assembly  occupied  only  five 
days.  Their  time  was  spent  in  consolidating  their  new  national 
organization — in  adopting  measures  to  print  and  circulate 
faithful  impressions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  in  delicate  diplo- 
macy towards  some  Presbyterians  who  had  a  strong  Congrega- 
tionalist  leaning,  in  organizing  Church  extension  and  Home 
Mission  work,  and  in  welding  together  the  new  brotherhood  of 
seventeen  Presbyteries  in  the  double  tie  of  love  for  each  other 
and  of  loyalty  to  their  exalted  Lord.  And  so  our  morning- 
stars  sang  together ;  and  if  they  could  have  foreseen  the  splen- 
did future  that  awaited  them  those  sons  of  God  would  have 
shouted  for  joy! 

American  Presbyterianism  may  well  be  proud  of  its  parent- 
age. "  Show  me  the  blood  and  I  will  show  you  the  man." 
There  was  some  admixture  of  the  Huguenot  in  our  ecclesias- 
tical ancestry — small  but  precious.  In  the  veins  of  many  of 
our  founders  flowed  some  of  the  best  blood  of  Scotland — the 
blood  of  the  Covenanters  and  Cameronians,  the  blood  of  the 


9 

heroes  who  fought  beside  Douglass  and  Cargill  in  the  Upper 
Clydesdale,  and  of  the  saints  who  were  fed  on  the  heavenly- 
manna  of  Eenwick  and  of  Kutherford,  From  the  Principality 
of  Wales  came  the  ancestors  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  Samuel 
Davies  and  other  men  of  renown.  The  North  of  Ireland  con- 
tributed the  stalwarts  who  peopled  the  mountains  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  valleys  of  Virginia — men  of  pluck  and  muscle 
who  hewed  down  the  trees  which  built  their  frontier  churches, 
men  who  coveted  no  fine  linen  for  their  tables  so  that  they  had 
enough  of  corn  bread  and  potatoes,  and  yet  imbued  with  such 
a  noble  thirst  for  learning  that  they  became  the  founders  of 
many  of  our  foremost  schools  and  colleges,  Puritan  Non-con- 
formity gave  to  us  some  of  our  ablest  leaders,  such  as  Dickin- 
son, Green  and  Rodgers.  The  physique  of  those  pioneers  was 
as  staunch  as  their  theology.  Many  of  them  preached  their 
half-century  sermons  to  the  same  flock ;  some  of  them,  at  four 
score,  could  mount  their  horses  for  a  ten- miles  ride  to  their 
preaching-stations,  or  a  thirty-miles  ride  to  the  Presbytery. 
Their  discourses  abounded  in  strong  Bible  doctrine,  preached 
"  without  defalcation  or  discount."  Ofttimes  the  solid  Calvin- 
istic  metal  was  heated  to  an  anthracite  glow  and  melted  the 
most  rugged  of  their  auditors.  The  libraries  of  those  early 
apostles  of  Presbyterianism  were  to  be  weighed  rather  than 
counted;  they  contained  a  few  volumes  of  savory  meat,  like 
Matthew  Poole  and  Matthew  Henry,  Calvin  and  Turretine. 
A  mighty  Concordance,  rebound  by  his  own  hands  with  sole- 
leather,  is  one  of  the  relics  of  one  of  those  Revolutionary  par- 
sons. As  theological  seminaries  of  the  present  style  were  not 
yet  born,  a  large  number  of  those  early  ministers  were  educated 
privately  in  the  parsonages  of  older  men  who  were  skilled  in 
divinity.  Others  were  trained  in  the  school  at  Fagg's  Manor 
or  in  Tennent's  Log-college ;  but  the  largest  number  brought 
with  them  their  diplomas  from  the  divinity-schools  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland. 

In  1746  the  College  of  New  Jersey  was  chartered.  Its  in- 
fancy was  spent  in  Elizabethtown,  and  ten  years  later  it  was 
removed  to  Princeton,  whose  name  it  has  made  classic  around 
the  globe.  This  greatest  of  our  colleges  owes  its  origin  to  the 
heart  and  brain  of  the  greatest  of  our  early  Presbyterians, 
Jonathan  Dickinson^  who  was  born  in  Massachusetts  exactly 
two  hundred  years  ago.  It  was  fitting  that  a  man  who  was 
almost  the  peer  of  Jonathan  Edwards  in  intellect  should  have 
been  the  first  in  the  line  of  Princeton's  College-Presidents ;  and, 
although  he  held  the  office  but  one  year,  he  left  upon  the  insti- 
tution the  impress  of  his  power  and  his  piety.  Sixty-six  years 
afterwards,  in  that  same  favored  town,  the  first  of  our  theo- 
logical seminaries  was  planted.     And  on  the  12th  of  August, 


10 

1812,  that  sunny-souled  patriarch  -who  combined  the  wisdom  of 
a  seer  with  the  simpHcity  of  a  child,  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander^ 
was  inducted  into  its  chair  of  theology.  Since  that  time  col- 
leges have  multiplied,  and  Presbyterian  schools  of  divinity 
have  been  established  at  Auburn,  Allegheny,  Columbia,  Prince 
Edward,  New  York,  Cincinnati,  Danville,  Chicago,  Oxford, 
Dubuque,  Newark,  Charlotte  and  San  Francisco.  But  on 
those  foundation-stones  laid  by  Dickinson  and  by  Alexander 
have  arisen  those  two  magnificent  strongholds  of  Christian 
culture  and  orthodox  faith,  on  whose  sacred  walls  the  smile  of 
God  gleams  like  the  light  of  the  morning.  "  Stand  fast.  Crag 
Ellachie !  "  Oh,  Princeton,  Princeton  !  in  the  name  of  thy  ten 
thousand  grateful  sons,  "  if  we  forget  thee,  may  our  right  hands 
forget  their  cunning  and  may  our  tongues  cleave  to  the  roof  of 
our  mouths! " 

As  we  review  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  during 
the  century  just  closed,  certain  prominent  head-lands  stand  out 
so  conspicuously  as  to  challenge  our  attention.  One  of  those 
was  the  "Great  Revival"  which  began  in  1800,  and  which 
swept  like  a  prodigious  gale  over  all  the  regions  west  of  the 
Alleghanies,  and  extending  southward  into  the  Carolinas  and 
Georgia.  Nothing  quite  like  it  was  ever  witnessed  before, 
or  has  ever  been  witnessed  since,  upon  this  continent.  The 
pecuUar  characteristics  of  this  spiritual  awakening  were — the 
introduction  of  camp-meetings,  which  were  immense  in  num- 
bers and  intense  in  excitement;  and,  secondly,  the  prevalence 
of  extraordinary  bodily  exercises,  under  which  hundreds  of 
men  and  women  were  prostrated  to  the  ground  in  convulsions 
of  agony  or  of  ecstatic  joy.  The  narrative  of  those  scenes 
reads  now  almost  like  one  of  the  weird  visions  of  the 
Apocalypse.  The  same  spiritual  whirlwind  which  filled  the 
air  with  seeming  chafF,  winnowed  also  a  vast  amount  of  pre- 
cious wheat,  which  seeded  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
saved  the  new  West  from  the  floods  of  prevailing  infidelity. 
It  saved  the  West  for  Jesus  Christ. 

The  supply  of  preachers  was  inadequate  for  the  emergency, 
especially  in  Kentucky,  where  the  revival  reached  its  acme 
of  power.  A  large  number  of  rough  and  ready  lay-exhorters 
offered  their  services.  Some  of  them  were  licensed,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  wishes  and  authority  of  a  "Synodical  Commis- 
sion." Had  Presbyterianism  been  as  sagacious  as  Methodism 
in  such  matters,  it  might  have  harnessed  the  fiery  enthusiasm 
of  those  frontiers-men  into  its  chariot.  Grant  that  those  John 
Baptists  in  linsey-woolsey  and  leathern  girdles  were  lacking 
in  diplomas,  and  rather  low  in  their  Calvinism,  and  wild  in 
some  of  their  methods ;  yet  Presbyterianism  needed  just  such  a 
corps  of  skirmishers  and  sharp-shooters  for  its  frontier  cam- 


11 

paign.  A  little  more  patient  diplomacy  of  wisdom  and  love 
might  have  averted  the  Cumberland  Schism  of  1810.  If  a 
blunder  is  to  be  measured  by  the  magnitude  of  its  results, 
then  the  blunder  which  severed  from  us  a  Church  which  now 
contains  119  Presbyteries,  2540  congregations  and  148,000 
members,  was  simply  colossal.  They  need  us  as  much  as  we 
need  them.  And  in  the  good  time  coming,  when  all  our  divi- 
sions are  healed,  that  "Army  of  the  Cumberland"  will  be 
welcomed  back  into  the  mighty  host  which  bears  the  old  blue 
banner  across  the  continent. 

In  addition  to  the  influence  of  the  Great  Eevival,  a  power- 
ful impetus  was  given  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  by  the 
adoption  of  the  "  Plan  of  Union  "  in  1802.  Ten  years  before 
this,  Dr.  Ashbel  Green  had  proposed  a  plan  of  intercourse 
with  the  Congregationalist  Association  of  New  England  by 
correspondence  and  interchange  of  delegates.  The  "  Plan  of 
Union"  originated  at  Schenectady  in  the  warm  hearts  of  Dr. 
John  Blair  Smith,  of  Virginia  (then  acting  as  President  of 
Union  College),  and  of  young  Eliphalet  Nott,  who  was  soon  to 
be  his  celebrated  successor.  Under  the  beneficent  influence  of 
this  "  Plan,"  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  joined  hands 
in  planting  those  new  churches  which  soon  made  the  wilder- 
ness of  Western  New  York  and  Ohio  to  blossom  as  the  rose. 
In  spite  of  its  serious  defects  this  arrangement  was  productive 
of  rich  blessings  through  a  whole  generation — until  it  went 
to  pieces  in  the  controversial  gale  which  sundered  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  1837.  Brethren!  Our  C^nion-days  with  each 
other  and  with  our  neighbors  have  always  been  our  best  days, 
but  over  the  days  of  unhappy  controversies  and  of  schisms,  we 
would  love  to  walk  backward,  and  cast  the  charitable  mantle 
of  oblivion. 

It  would  be  pleasant,  if  the  limits  of  our  time  allowed,  to 
sketch  the  splendid  progress  which  Presbyterianism  made 
during  the  first  third  of  this  nineteenth  century.  During  those 
golden  years  her  roots  were  spread  out  to  the  waters,  and  the 
dews  of  heaven  lay  upon  her  widening  branches.  In  1802 
the  General  Assembly  appointed  a  committee  to  direct  Home 
Missionary  work,  which  was  enlarged  into  a  Board  of  Mis- 
sions in  1816.  The  Temperance  Reform,  which  had  been 
pioneered  by  the  scientific  Dr.  Rush  and  the  eloquent  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher,  was  heartily  endorsed  by  the  Assembly  of 
1812.  Our  pulpits  were  enjoined  to  preach  against  both  the 
drinking  usages  and  the  dram  shops.  About  that  time  strong 
protests  were  made  by  the  Assembly  against  the  traffic  in 
negro  slaves,  and  against  neglecting  the  education  of  slaves. 
The  fashionable  practice  of  duelling  was  branded  as  murder. 
During  those  thirty-five  years  of  progress,  societies  for  the 


12 

education  of  ministers  were  organized  ;  the  "  American  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions"  was  born,  with  nearly  all  our  churches  as 
its  auxiliaries.  Our  leading  theological  seminaries  were 
founded.  Wide-spread  revivals  followed  the  fervid  labors  of 
such  ministers  as  Gallaher  and  Ross,  Baker  and  James  Hall, 
Finney  and  Nettleton. 

It  would  be  profitable  also  to  halt  and  study  some  of  the 
representative  men  of  that  era,  the  men  who  "had  under- 
standing of  the  times,  and  knew  what  Israel  ought  to  do." 
Among  those  type-men  was  that  Baxter-like  spirit,  James 
Patterson,  who  could  conduct  forty  religious  meetings  in  a 
week  among  the  poor  of  Philadelphia,  and  whose  ministry 
here  was  a  perpetual  Pentecost.  His  Southern  counterpart  in 
zeal  was  James  Hall,  a  Scotch-Irish  pupil  of  Witherspoon,  a 
Herculean  Boanerges  in  stature,  whose  thrilling  eloquence  and 
itinerant  labors  through  the  Carolinas  renewed  the  memories 
of  Whitefield.  Another  majestic  giant  in.  physique  and  pulpit 
power,  was  Edward  Dorr  Griffin,  whose  voice  had  the  compass 
of  an  orchestra,  and  whose  great  discourse  on  "  God  exalted 
and  man  humbled  by  the  Gospel"  touched  the  high-water 
mark  of  sacred  oratory.  Before  us  rise  the  serene  faces  of 
Archibald  Alexander  and  James  Richards,  the  two  wonderfully 
wise  masters  in  Israel,  whose  voices  have  yet  a  thousand 
echoes  in  the  ministers  whom  they  trained.  Beside  them 
stand  the  saintly  Kevins,  the  logical  Skinner,  the  lovable 
John  Holt  Rice,  the  brilliant  Larned,  the  busy-handed  Cor- 
nelius, the  impetuous  Breckenridge,  and  the  calm,  Gcholarly 
Albert  Barnes.  To  the  closing  years  of  that  era  belongs  that 
fearless  son  of  thunder,  Charles  G.Finney,  the  weight  of  whose 
spear  was  like  a  weaver's  beam.  During  that  progressive  era 
there  was  a  grand  development  of  the  lay-element  in  the  elder- 
ship, in  the  councils  and  in  the  practical  work  of  the  churches. 
A  noble  army  of  consecrated  laymen  arose  which  found  its 
consummate  type  of  beauty  in  such  characters  as  Harlan  Page 
and  William  E.  Dodge.  That  prosperous  third  of  a  century 
carried  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  the  dimensions  of  21 
Synods,  116  Presbyteries,  2500  congregations  and  233,000 
communicants. 

But  at  the  close  of  this  halcyon  period  of  prosperity,  por- 
tentous clouds  began  to  loom  above  the  horizon.  The 
ecclesiastical  barometer  betokened  "foul  weather."  The 
ominous  words  "  Old  School"  and  "  New  School"  began  to  be 
heard;  and  the  ghosts  of  1745,  "clad  in  complete  steel,"  began 
to  "revisit  the  glimpses  of  the  moon."  The  conflict  was 
partly  theological,  and  partly  ecclesiastical.  In  theology  it 
was  High  Calvinism  versus  Low  Calvinism  ;  both  schools  pro- 
fessing their  loyalty  to  the  Westminster  standards.    In  ecclesi- 


13 

astics  it  was  Denominational  Boards  versus  Voluntary  Societies 
with  Congregationalist  partnerships.  For  five  long  years  the 
Euroclydon  of  controversy  raged.  For  five  years  every  ses- 
sion of  the  General  Assembly  was  a  storm-centre.  During 
those  five  years  the  sun  on  the  Presbyterian  dial  went  back- 
ward, and  the  membership  of  the  Church  decreased  by  thirteen 
thousand  members!  At  length  disruption  became  inevitable; 
and  the  overstrained  chain-cable  snapped,  hurling  far  and 
wide  its  shattered  links  which  scarred  many  a  venerable  white 
head,  and  drew  blood  from  many  a  wounded  heart! 

In  May,  1838,  two  General  Assemblies,  very  evenly  balanced 
as  to  nami)ers,  confronted  each  other  in  this  city.  Both  bore 
the  same  name,  both  acted  under  the  same  Constitution  and 
Confession  of  Faith.  It  has  been  often  affirmed  that  beneath 
all  the  controversy  about  theology  and  Church  polity,  the 
secret  cause  of  the  disruption  was  negro  slavery.  But  the  suf- 
ficient answer  to  this  assertion  is  that  the  cleavage  did  not 
follow  any  geographical  line.  Some  of  the  most  vehement 
Old  School  men  were  the  Scotch-Irish  Anti- Slavery  men  of 
Western  Pennsylvania.  Some  of  the  most  ardent  partisans  of 
the  New  School  branch  were  slave-holders  in  Virginia,  South 
Carolina  and  Alabama.  In  the  successive  Old  School  Assem- 
blies the  hot  coal  was  handled  very  gingerly.  In  the  New 
School  Assemblies  the  topic  was  freely  discussed ;  and  at  the 
termination  of  a  protracted  debate,  in  1846,  the  uniquely  elo- 
quent Moderator,  Dr.SamuelH.Cox,  exclaimed,  "Well,  we  have 
capped  Vesuvius  once  more  !"  But  in  1857  the  cap  blew  off, 
and  the  Southern  churches  withdrew,  and  organized  under  the 
name  of  the  "  IJnited  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." 

The  Old  School  Assembly  held  together  for  four  years 
longer.  But  their  turn  came  in  1861,  when  the  historic 
cannon-shot  of  Fort  Sumpter,  after  piercing  the  Federal  Union, 
ricocheted  into  the  Old  School  organization  and  cleft  it  asun- 
der. Within  twenty-four  years  a  single  national  Presbyterian 
body  had  been  divided  into  four  bodies  ;  two  of  them  in  the 
North,  and  two  of  them  in  the  South ! 

The  deep  bleeding  wound  created  by  the  civil  war  has  been 
most  mercifully  and  beneficently  healed.  And  the  breach 
made  by  that  conflict  in  the  ranks  of  Presbyterianism  will  yet, 
in  God's  good  time,  he  healed  also,  just  as  surely  as  an  All- wise 
God  reigns  in  heaven,  and  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love  lives 
and  throbs  in  the  great  Presbyterian  heart.  It  is  said  that  a 
fifty-pound  iron  weight,  if  flung  into  the  foaming  verge 
of  Niagara,  will  not  sink.  It  is  swept  on  by  the  gigantic  cur- 
rent as  if  it  were  a  pine-shaving.  Even  so  in  the  bright  com- 
ing time,  when  all  the  present  soluble  difficulties  shall  have 
been  ivisehj  and  riahteoushj  solveJ,  it  will  be  found  that  the 


14 

most  stolid  obstacles  to  reunion  will  be  swept  away  in  that 
mighty  torrent  of  love  that  pours  down  from  the  throne  of 
Him  who  loved  us  all  and  gave  Himself  for  us. 

But  let  us  revert  from  prophecy  to  history.  After  the  dis- 
ruption in  1838,  the  "New"  and  "Old"  School  wings  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  pursued  their  respective  ways — not  in  a 
spirit  of  mutual  hostility,  but  of  generous  rivalry.  For  with 
the  organic  separation  controversy  ceased.  Like  two  Christian 
neighbors  closely  related  by  blood,  and  dwelling  in  different 
houses,  they  exchanged  calls,  and  whenever  they  met,  they 
inquired  kindly  after  each  other's  welfare.  The  separation 
lasted  just  one- third  of  a  century,  until,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
it  could  not  last  any  longer.  As  disruption  had  been  inevitable, 
so  reunion  became  still  more  inevitable.  Each  side  had  con- 
quered the  other.  The  Old  School,  who  were  the  especial 
representatives  of  Orthodoxy  and  Order,  had  established  the 
wisdom  of  Ecclesiastical  Boards  and  of  conducting  the  affairs 
of  the  Church  without  incongruous  alliances.  The  New 
School,  who  were  the  especial  representatives  of  Liberty  and 
Progress,  had  vindicated  the  right  of  fraternal  toleration 
within  the  bounds  of  loyalty* to  the  common .  standards  of 
Faith  and  Church  government.  Each  side  needed  the  other. 
Why  not  consolidate  with  the  same  Westminster  bed-rock 
under  their  feet,  and  the  same  blue  banner  over  their  heads  ? 

The  first  official  movement  towards  reunion  was  made  at 
St.  Louis,  in  May,  1866.  The  two  Assemblies  were  meeting 
there  simultaneously,  and  both  appointed  influential  com- 
mittees to  confer  in  regard  to  the  practicability  of  reunion  and 
to  suggest  measures  for  its  accomplishment.  Dr.  Beatty  was 
the  chairman  of  the  "  Old  School "  committee ;  Dr.  William 
Adams  was  the  chairman  of  the  "New."  In  1868  the  Joint 
Committee  presented  their  plan  of  consolidation  to  the  two 
Assemblies,  and  it  was  the  subject  of  an  overture  sent  down  to 
the  Presbyteries.  In  May,  1869,  the  two  Assemblies  convened 
in  New  York,  joined  in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
and,  with  only  nine  dissenting  voices  out  of  560  enrolled  mem- 
bers, voted  their  hearty  approval  of  the  Joint  Committee's 
Plan  of  Eeunion !  At  the  adjourned  sessions  of  the  Assem- 
blies in  the  city  of  Pittsburgh,  on  the  morning  of  November 
12,  1869,  the  noble  deed  was  nobly  consummated.  Amid 
shouts  of  joy  and  embraces  of  love,  the  two  wings  of  the  Pres- 
byterian host  marched  together  into  the  same  temple  of  the 
living  God,  and  became  ONE. 

That  was  the  unparalleled  love-feast  in  our  history.  The 
song  of  praise  was  in  our  hearts  and  we  sang ;  the  tears 
of  joy  were  in  our  hearts  and  we  wept.  The  voices  of 
the  eloquent  William  Adams  and  of  the  sagacious  George 


15 

W.  Musgrave — who  had  been  the  heaven-guided  leaders 
of  Reunion — blended  together  in  that  magnificent  doxology 
which  made  the  rafters  roar !  Nor  did  the  holy  ecstasies  of 
the  hour  evaporate  in  empty  breath  ;  for  it  was  decreed  on  the 
spot  to  raise  five  millions  of  dollars  for  the  treasury  of  the 
Lord,  as  a  special  thank-offering  for  the  consummation  of  our 
glorious  nuptials.     It  actually  amounted  to  $7,888,0001 

Pittsburgh  witnessed  the  imposing  ceremony  of  wedlock. 
But  it  was  fitting  that  in  this  "City  of  Brotherly  Love,"  where 
the  first  Assembly  of  1789  had  convened,  the  great  reunited 
Assembly  of  1870  should  hold  its  sessions.  Under  the  soft 
vernal  skies  that  General  Assembly  came  together,  six  hun- 
dred and  forty  strong,  and  representing  fifty-one  Synods,  259 
Presbyteries,  4526  churches  and  446,560  communicant  mem- 
bers. The  session  of  this  memorable  Assembly  continued  until 
the  4th  of  June.  During  that  time  the  Synods  were  recon- 
structed, the  Boards  were  consolidated,  and  the  respective  ma- 
chineries of  the  former  dualities  were  harmoniously  blended 
into  one.  That  beneficent  reunion  was  unmistakably  guided 
of  God.  It  has  been  cemented  by  brotherly  affection.  It  se- 
cured much  worth  having  ;  it  sacrificed  nothing  worth  Tceejnng. 
It  was  the  blessed  foretoken  of  that  coming  day  when  all  the 
churches  that  bear  the  Presbyterian  name  shall  compose  a 
single  glorious  solidarity,  on  whose  walls  may  be  inscribed  the 
grand  old  Scotch  version  of  the  125th  Psalm  : 

"  Who  sticketh  to  God  in  stable  trust, 
As  Ziou's  mount,  he  stands  full  just, 
Which  moveth  no  whit,  nor  yet  doth  reel, 
But  standeth  forever  as  stiff  as  steel !  " 

As  we  look  back  over  the  century  now  closing,  we  discover 
much  to  excite  devout  thanksgiving.  When  the  first  General 
Assembly  was  organized  in  1788  there  were  only  419  churches 
and  not  more  than  20,000  members.  Home  Missions  were  in 
their  feeble  infancy.  The  Foreign  Mission  enterprise  was  not 
^'^et  born.  According  to  last  year's  statistics  we  now  number 
6486  churches  and  about  700,000  communicants.  Our  Board 
of  Home  Missions  has  1465  missionaries  upon  a  field  that 
stretches  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Indian  settlements  in  far- 
away Alaska.  Our  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  maintains  a 
force  of  1543  men  and  women,  embracing  ministers,  teachers, 
physicians  and  Bible-readers.  Presbyterianism  leads  the  van 
in  China  and  feeds  the  brilliant  electric-burner  that  flames  over 
the  Orient  from  the  coast  of  Syria.  A  prodigious  impetus  has 
been  given  to  missionary  enterprise  both  at  home  and  abroad 
by  the  enlistment  of  woman's  busy  hands  and  loving  heart. 
While  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  never  ordained  women  to 
her  public  ministry  of  the  Word,  yet  she  has  not  been  un- 
mindful of  the  holy  activities  of  womanhood  in   the   New 


16 

Testament  Cliurches,  from  the  hour  when  Mary  Magdalene 
was  the  first  commissioned  bearer  of  the  good  tidings  of  her 
Lord's  resurrection  to  His  disciples.  So  effective  are  our 
Women's  Boards  that  they  now  furnish  one-third  of  all  the 
moneys  contributed  to  the  foreign  field. 

Within  the  last  hundred  years  the  Presbyterian  Church  has 
had  a  remarkable  increase.  In  1788  (as  we  have  seen)  there 
were  only  seventeen  Presbyteries,  177  ministers,  419  churches 
and  not  over  20,000  communicants.  To-day,  if  we  combine 
the  columns  of  both  wings,  Northern  and  Southern,  there  are 
270  Presbyteries,  6770  ministers,  8672  churches,  and  851,000 
communicants.  These  figures  may  well  provoke  our  grati- 
tude, not  unmingled  with  humiliation.  By  the  blessing  of 
God  our  growth  has  been  very  great;  it  would  have  been 
vastly  greater  if  it  had  not  been  retarded  by  several  adverse 
causes.  The  first  of  these  has  been  the  lamentably  inadequate 
supply  of  ministers  to  organize  and  to  "man"  churches  among 
the  rapidly  increasing  new  settlements.  A  second  was  an 
equally  inadequate  supply  of  funds  to  rear  churches  and  to  pro- 
mote Domestic  Missions.  Only  within  the  last  dozen  years 
has  our  Church  begun  to  learn  and  to  practice  the  grand  prin- 
ciple of  systematic  beneficence.  Weslyan  Methodism  owed 
much  of  its  rapid  growth  to  John  Wesley's  favorite  watch- 
word, "Justification,  sanctification  and  a  penny  a  day!"  If 
Presbyterianism  increases  her  drafts  on  Christ's  promises,  she 
must  increase  her  drafts  on  her  own  cheque  books. 

A  third  cause  that  has  retarded  our  growth  has  been  the 
painfully  frequent  controversies  and  divisions.  An  enormous 
amount  of  force  that  ought  to  have  been  spent  in  enlargement 
has  been  wasted  in  needless  internal  conflicts.  Brethren! 
Over  the  morning  dawn  which  ushers  in  a  new  century  let  us 
bend,  like  a  Polar  arch,  this  glorious  motto,  Union  IN  Christ 
for  a  World  WITHOUT  Christ! 

Alongside  of  sister  denominations  let  us  continue  to  labor  on 
in  true  fraternity;  but  let  us  waste  no  time  in  idle  flirtations 
with  any  self-styled  "  historic  Episcopate."  The  men  in  yonder 
General  Assembly  who  serve  Paul's  Lord  and  who  preach 
Paul's  doctrines  are  so  far  forth  Paul's  legitimate  successors. 

A  retrospect  of  the  century  just  gone  with  its  account  to 
heaven  furnishes  abundant  cause  for  devout  thanksgiving. 
We  may  well  be  thankful  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has 
so  largely  escaped  the  prevailing  malaria  of  doubt  and  of  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  ancient  faith  delivered  to  the  saints. 
From  the  old  bed-rock  we  have  taken  no  "  new  departures." 
It  was  the  honest  boast  of  the  greatest  of  our  theologians,  Dr. 
Charles  Hodge,  that  Presbyterianism  has  made  no  new  discov- 
eries in  Bible  theology.  Her  telescopes  sweep  no  fields  beyond 
the  limits  of  Divine  Eevelation.     This   sound   conservatism 


17 

never  has  been — it  never  must  be  stolid  stagnation.  The  wise 
man's  eyes  are  in  the  front  of  his  head  ;  he  is  ever  discerning 
new  lines  of  progress  on  old  lines  of  truth. 

Within  the  last  hundred  years  our  beloved  Church  has 
carved  her  influence  in  broad  and  beneficent  characters  on  the 
history  of  the  Eepublic.  Her  iron  has  entered  into  the 
nation's  blood.  During  the  arduous  struggle  for  independence, 
the  name  Presbyterian  almost  included  the  name  of  Patriot. 
Her  stifiiy  vertebrated  theology  has  imparted  backbone  to 
the  popular  conscience.  Presbyterianism  has  always  stood 
for  the  sovereignty  of  Jehovah,  the  authority  of  conscience  and 
the  majesty  of  law.  Her  hterature  has  enriched  all  libraries ; 
her  scholarship  has  linked  the  names  of  Edward  Eobinson, 
Schaft',  AddisoQ  Alexander  and  many  others  with  the  sacred 
scholarship  of  Europe.  Her  money  contributions  towards  the 
circulation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  kindred  objects  of 
Christian  charity  have  exceeded  those  of  any  other  denomina- 
tion. Her  pulpits  have  exalted  the  sin- atoning  Lamb  of  God  ; 
her  Sabbath-schools  have  taught  millions  of  infant  voices  to 
lisp  His  blessed  Name ;  her  pastors  have  fed  nine  successive 
generations  with  the  bread  of  life,  and  led  three  millions  of 
converts  to  the  Master's  table.  Her  record  is  on  high  in  the 
multitudes  of  precious  souls  whom  her  teachings  have  guided 
to  glory.  Thank  God  !  the  past  of  American  Presbyterianism 
is  secure.  As  to  the  future,  we  may  adopt  the  quaint  words 
of  Martin  Luther,  when  he  said,  "  We  tell  our  Lord  God  plainly 
that  if  He  will  have  His  Church  He  must  look  after  it  Him- 
self. We  cannot  sustain  it ;  and  if  we  could,  we  should  be 
the  proudest  asses  under  heaven." 

Fathers  and  brethren  !  Let  us  rejoice  that  we  have  witnessed 
this  happy  commemoration.  As  we  listen  to  the  stroke  of 
that  bell  which  sounds  the  exit  of  a  century  in  our  annals, 
let  us  answer  it  back  with  a  heartfelt  "  Hallelujah  H  The 
spirits  of  the  mighty  dead,  whose  achievements  we  have  re- 
hearsed, seem  to  hover  around  us,  and  to  join  iu  our  songs  of 
thanksgiving.  For  amidst  the  entrancing  splendors  of  Para- 
dise, they  cannot  have  lost  the  memories  of  the  Church  to 
which  they  consecrated  their  earthly  lives — or  have  lost  their 
interest  in  its  welfare.  Nor  shall  we  be  forgetful  of  our 
spiritual  lineage  if,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  reach  that  "gen- 
eral assembly  of  the  first-born  "  upon  the  glassy  sea  of  crystal 
and  of  gold.  Heaven  destroys  no  identity,  breaks  no  ties, 
dissolves  no  kinships.  While  we  shall  adore  that  ineffable 
and  all-glorious  Name  that  is  above  every  name,  we  shall  not 
forget  or  disown  that  other  dear  old  name  by  which  we  are 
called  to-day ;  and  as  we  meet  and  greet  each  other  in  that 
assembly,  we  shall  not  be  ashamed  to  say,  "  /  was^  and  I  am, 
a  Pbesbyterian  1" 


THE    WORK    OF     PRESBYTERIANISM 
FOR    THE    FUTURE. 


By  Rev.  T.  D.  Witherspoon,  D.D.,  LL.D 
Louisville,  Ky. 


IT  is  reiatea  that  when,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  Spain  had 
completed  the  recovery  of  her  soil  from  the  dominion  of 
the  Moors,  when  her  victorious  legions  had  redeemed 
province  after  province,  until  the  last  was  disenthralled  and 
the  national  standards  waved  in  triumph  over  the  citadel  of 
Gibraltar,  the  government  ordered  a  commemorative  coin  to 
be  struck,  bearing  an  anaglyph  of  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  with 
the  encircling  motto,  Ne  Plus  Ultra,  to  indicate  that  the  goal 
of  national  ambition  had  been  reached  and  that  no  further 
conquests  remained  commensurate  with  those  already  achieved. 
But  when,  a  decade  or  two  later,  the  great  prince  of  discover- 
ers returned  from  his  far-western  voyage,  bringing  tidings  of 
the  new  realms  that  lay  trackless  under  the  setting  sun,  the 
nation  awakened  to  a  new  impulse,  ordered  the  word  Ne  to  be 
stricken  from  the  die  and  only  Plus  Ultra  to  remain,  that 
with  its  animating  cry  of  "  Further!  further  I"  it  might  stir 
the  ambition  of  Spanish  youth  to  wider  discoveries  and 
grander  achievements  in  the  unknown  fields  that  lay  beyond. 

As  we  listened  to  the  eloquent  words  of  the  speaker  who 
has  just  taken  his  seat;  as  we  caught  the  glow  of  his  fervor 
and  enthusiasm;  as,  under  his  skillful  marshaling,  all  the  glo- 
rious past  of  Presbyterianism  moved  in  living  array  before  us, 
and  we  became  eye  witnesses  of  the  battles  it  has  fought,  the 
enemies  it  has  encountered,  the  triumphs  it  has  achieved  and 
the  territory  it  lias  won,  who  could  resist  the  impression  that 
the  splendid  achievements  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  past  can 
find  no  parallels  in  the  future,  that  its  present  exalted  position 
and  commanding  influence  leave  little  for  the  future  but  to 
conserve  that  which  is  already  won;  that — our  Gibraltars  all 
taken — nothing  remains  but  to  inscribe  upon  our  banners  N'e 
Plus  Ultra,  and  concede  that  the  glory  of  Presbyterianism 
lies  in  the  historic  memories  of  the  past. 

If  such  be  the  unwilling  effect  of  the  eloquence  of  our 
brother,  then  my  regret,  in  which  I  know  you  cannot  fail  to 
18 


19 

sliare,  becomes  more  profound,  that  the  venerable  Nestor  of 
our  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  who  was  chosen  to  preside 
over  its  first  General  Assembly,  and  who,  perhaps  more  than 
any  other  living  man,  has  shared  its  confidence  and  given 
shape  to  its  councils,  cannot  be  with  us  to-day  to  render  the 
service  to  which  he  was  called  by  the  voice  of  the  General 
Assembly.  A  prince  of  explorers  in  the  realms  of  thought, 
it  would  only  be  necessary  that  he  should  bring  you  the  fruits 
of  a  single  excursion  into  those  unknown  seas  which  make  the 
future  of  Presbyterianism,  to  assure  you  that  along  the  course 
of  the  century  to  come  lie  new  and  unexplored  realms,  with 
possibilities  as  grand  as  any  that  have  given  inspiration  to  the 
deeds  of  valor  of  which  we  have  heard  to-day.  Even  under 
the  unskilled  guidance  which  an  alternate,  in  the  absence  of 
his  principal,  offers  you  to-day,  I  am  not  without  hope  that 
this  Centennial  Day  may  appear,  not  so  much  a  time  of  wor- 
ship in  which  to  lift  our  hallelujahs  to  Heaven  for  that  which 
is  past,  as  a  day  of  review  in  which  to  gird  our  loins  and 
tighten  the  grip  upon  our  swords  for  that  which  is  to  come. 
We  rise  to  the  true  measure  of  this  august  occasion,  only  as 
these  Centennial  exercises  are  to  us  Pillars  of  Hercules,  not 
with  barred  gates,  and  Ne  Plus  Ultra  over  them — the  Ultima 
Thule^  where  denominational  enterprise  may  furl  its  sails  and 
lie  at  rest — but  Pillars  of  Hercules,  with  gates  wide  open,  and 
over  them  that  new  motto,  which,  with  uplifted  voice,  cries 
"Further!  further!"  as  it  points  to  new  realms  of  conquest 
and  new  work  for  God  in  the  century  to  come. 

Certainly  no  thoughtful  observer  can  contemplate  the  pres- 
ent state  of  religious  opinion,  and  especially  the  more  recent 
phases  of  theological  inquiry,  without  having  the  conviction 
forced  upon  him  that  in  the  near  future  issues  are  to  emerge 
and  conflicts  are  to  be  waged  Avhich  will  demand  of  the  Church 
of  God,  in  its  purest  forms,  just  such  service  as  that  which  has 
made  Presbyterianism  illustrious  in  the  centuries  gone.  As  a 
result,  in  large  measure,  of  the  positivism  and  rationalism 
that,  more  than  a  century  ago,  began  to  creep  into  the  philo- 
sophical and  theological  schools  of  Europe,  setting  in  motion 
influences  which  are  now  just  beginning  to  work  out  their 
baleful  results,  the  age  is  becoming  intensely  rationalistic.  It 
is  irreverent  of  antiquity,  impatient  of  dogma,  intolerant  of 
authority,  incredulous  of  the  supernatural,  ready  to  call  in 
question  every  article  of  religious  faith,  and  throw  doubt,  if 
possible,  on  every  item  of  historic  fact  in  the  Word  of  God. 
The  essence  of  what  is  called  "  modern  thought  "  is  intoler- 
ance of  the  supernatural  in  rehgion.  Under  various  forms, 
some  of  them  bold  and  decided,  others  vague  and  ill- defined, 
of  Positivism  Agnosticism,  Materialism  and  Pantheism,  it  is 


20 

organizing  its  forces  and  preparing  for  a  multiform,  but  con- 
certed and  persistent  assault  upon  every  point  of  Christianity 
that  involves  the  idea  of  a  supernatural  revelation  and  of  a 
personal  interposition  for  redemptive  purposes  into  the  domain 
of  natural  law. 

The  first  great  work  of  Presbyterianism  for  the  future, 
tben — making  this  general  survey  of  the  field — is  to  do  in 
the  coming  issue  that  which  she  has  always  been  foremost  to 
do  in  the  past ;  as  the  thunder  of  rati  onalistic  artillery  is 
heard  in  the  distance,  to  sound  the  note  of  alarm  to  other  de- 
nominations, step  with  steady  and  stately  advance  into  the 
midst  of  the  fray,  bear  the  old  banner  of  the  Covenant  where 
the  fight  rages  hottest,  and  be,  as  she  has  ever  been,  the  stal- 
wart centre  upon  which  the  other  denominations  may  align 
themselves  as  the  great  sacramental  host  moves  forward  to 
victory. 

But  whilst  it  is  true  that  the  assault  is  aimed  at  the  whole 
line  of  Christian  defenses,  it  must  be  remembered  that  in 
every  issue  where  there  are  extended  lines  of  battle  there  are 
certain  strategic  points  that  hold  in  themselves  the  key  to  tbe 
whole  field.  Against  these  the  forces  of  the  assailants  are 
massed.  These  the  defenders  must  at  all  hazards  maintain. 
It  may  be  well  for  us  to  look  to-day  at  some  of  these  re- 
doubts which  the  Church  of  God  must  hold,  and  for  the  hold- 
ing of  which,  if  we  may  judge  of  the  future  by  the  past, 
Christendom  must  look  largely  to  Presbyterianism. 

1.  The  first  of  these  citadels  of  the  faith  is  the  finality  of 
Scripture  as  a  revelation  from  God,  its  sufficiency  to  meet  all 
the  conditions  of  intellectual  progress  in  the  world  and  of 
spiritual  development  in  the  Church  to  the  end  of  time.  Now, 
you  will  say  at  once  that  this  is  no  new  issue.  And  so,  in- 
deed, it  is  not.  It  is  the  old  battle  of  the  Eeformation  in  the 
sixteenth  century  for  the  absolute  sufficiency  and  sole  author- 
ity of  Scripture  as  a  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  But,  in  point 
of  fact,  there  is  no  issue  that  the  Church  of  God  is  called  to 
meet  to-day  that  she  has  not  successfully  met  in  the  days  gone 
by.  There  is  not  an  enemy  that  confronts  her  on  the  field 
whom  she  has  not  unhorsed  and  unarmed  in  many  a  conflict 
as  the  centuries  have  rolled  away.  The  same  battles,  how- 
ever, are  fought  under  new  conditions,  and  on  the  part  of  the 
enemy  with  weapons  of  later  and  more  approved  design.  So 
it  is  in  reference  to  this  question  of  the  finality  of  Scripture. 
In  the  days  of  the  Reformation  the  issue  was  joined  upon  the 
elevation  of  traditions  of  fathers,  bulls  of  popes  and  decrees 
of  councils  to  an  authority  coordinate  with  that  of  the  writ- 
ten Word  of  God.  The  position  assumed  by  our  fathers,  and 
steadfastly  maintained  in  the  face  of  sword  and  fagot,  was,  as 


21 

it  is  happily  expressed  in  our   Westminster   standards,  that 
"  the  Supreme  Judge  by  which  all  controversies  of  religion 
are  to  be  decided  and  all  decrees  of  councils,  opinions  of  an- 
cient writers,  doctrines  of  men  and  private  spirits   are  to  be 
examined,    and  in   whose    sentence    we   are  to  rest,  can  be 
no  other  but  the  Holy  Spirit  speaking  in  the  Scripture."     In 
those  former  days  the  Church  of  God  was  asked  to  rest,  one 
foot  upon  the  solid  rock   of  God's  inspired  Word,  and  the 
other  upon  the  shifting  sand  of  uncertain  traditions   and   fal- 
lible human  decrees.     Now  it  is  proposed  to  exalt  to  this  po- 
sition  of    coordinate  authority  with  the  Word  of  God  the 
still  more  vague  and  illusory  element  of  what  is  termed  the 
enlightened  Christian  consciousness  of  the  age.     The  claim  of 
the  Bible  to  be  the  sole  authoritative  rule  of  faith  is  impugned 
upon  the  ground  that  the  law  of  evolution,  which  is  at  work 
in  the  natural  world  around  us,  is  also  operative  in  the  sphere 
of  religion;  that  under  this  law  a   process   of  development 
has  been  going  forward,  by  reason  of  which  the  Church  of  the 
nineteenth  century  has  outgrown  the  doctrinal  standards  and 
tests  of  orthodoxy  of  Scriptural  times.     Statements  of  doc- 
trine and  measures  of  orthodoxy  fixed  by  Christ   and    His 
Apostles  were  all  right  in  the  age  in  which  they  lived,  and 
with  the  measure  of  the  stature  to   which   the    Church   had 
then  attained.     But  Christianity  has  outgrown  them.     They 
belonged  to  the  childhood  of  Christian  experience.  Eeligion  is 
an  evolution  and   theology  a   growth.     Inspiration   is  a  con- 
stant factor  in  the  life   of  the   Church.     "  Prophets   are   ever 
arising,  like  Bushnell  and  Beecher,  with  great  thoughts  born 
in  their  souls."     The   demand,  therefore,  of  the   age   is   for  a 
progressive   standard   of  orthodoxy,   for   stated   revisions   of 
creeds  and  symbols,  not  to  conform  them  more  closely  to  the 
teaching  of  Scripture  with  the  new  light   which    the   Holy 
Spirit  has  thrown  upon  its  interpretation,  but  to  adjust  them 
to  the  newly  evolved  conceptions  and   more  highly  spiritual- 
ized  institutions  of  the   hour.     The  old  theology,  which  was 
projected  simply  from  the  point  of  view  of  Scriptrue  teaching, 
is  to  be  supplanted  by  the  new,  expressive  of  the  refined  sen- 
sibilities and  the  enlightened  Christian  judgment  of  the  pres- 
ent age.     As  straws  indicate  the  direction  of  the  wind,  so  the 
recent    agitations   of  the   question  of  probation   after   death 
show  that  the  issue  is  upon  us.     Every  doctrine  that  involves 
a  supernatural  element  is  to  be  brought  to  the  same  intuitional 
tests,  and  tried  by  the  same  rationalistic  standards.     The  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity,  the  doctrine  of  Vicarious  Sacrifice,  the 
doctrine   of  Spiritual   Eegeneration,  the   doctrine   of  Future 
Punishment — all  these  are  to  be  reckoned  amongst  the  child- 
isb  things  which  the  Church  in  its  fully  developed  manhood 


22 

is  to  put  away.  Like  the  caudal  appendage  of  Darwin's 
primeval  man,  they  are  to  be  evolved  and  evolved  until  there 
is  nothing  of  them  left. 

Now,  as  against  this  moonlight  theology,  which  rests  its 
claim  upon  a  supposed  inspiration  in  Christian  consciousness 
higher  than  that  of  Apostles  and  Evangelists  who  "  wrote  as 
they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  the  Church  of  God 
must  make  firm  and  uncompromising  stand.  As  in  Reformation 
times,  against  the  authority  of  Synods  and  Councils,  so  now 
against  the  authority  of  popular  sentiment  and  rationalistic 
criticism — for  that  is  the  measure  of  it — we  must  steadfastly 
maintain  that  "  the  Supreme  Judge  by  which  all  controversies 
in  religion  are  to  be  decided,  and  in  whose  sentence  we  are  to 
rest,  can  be  no  other  than  the  Holy  Spirit,  speaking  in  the 
Scripture."  As  in  the  stormy  days  of  the  past,  so  in  the  omi- 
nous days  ahead,  the  watchword  of  the  Church  must  be,  "  The 
Bible  and  the  Bible  alone,  the  religion  of  Protestants." 

What  is  true  of  the  Scriptures  as  a  rule  of  faith  is  equally 
true  as  a  norm  of  practice — as  a  rule  for  the  regulation  of 
daily  life.  Under  the  same  rationalistic  tendencies  to  which 
we  have  adverted  there  has  grown  up  a  school  of  casuists 
amongst  us,  claiming  that  under  evolutionary  processes  in  the 
moral  sphere  we  are  upon  a  higher  plane  of  ethical  conception 
than  the  inspired  founders  of  the  Christian  Church.  Things 
which  Apostles  not  only  allowed  but  practiced  and  commended 
are  sinful  now.  Things  which  were  by  them  positively  for- 
bidden as  shameful  are  in  our  advanced  stage  of  ethical  devel- 
opment proper  and  right.  Thus,  with  characteristic  inven- 
tiveness the  age  is  adding  to  the  catalogue  of  sins  which  are 
transgressions  of  the  law,  sins  which  are  transgressions  of  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  and  in  some  of  the  churches  of  the  land  we 
already  have  tests  of  religious  character  and  terms  of  Church 
communion  which  would  exclude  our  Lord  Himself  if  He  were 
upon  the  earth.  It  avails  nothing  to  say  that,  up  to  this  point, 
the  invasions  of  Christian  liberty  are  slight,  and  the  restraints 
imposed  salutary  and  wholesome.  There  is  the  abandonment 
of  the  great  principle  of  Chistian  liberty,  and  the  admission  of 
a  power  of  moral  invention  in  the  Church  which  has  only  to 
be  carried  out  to  its  logical  issues  to  bring  us  again  under  the 
bondage  of  rabbinical  and  medieval  times. 

Presbyterianism  has  always  been  in  the  past  the  great  bul- 
wark of  the  right  of  private  judgment  and  of  liberty  of  Chris- 
tian conscience.  In  imperishable  words  she  has  written  upon 
her  standards,  "  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience,  and  hath 
left  it  free  from  the  commandments  of  men  which  are  in  any- 
thing contrary  to  His  Word  or  beside  it  in  mattt;rs  of  faith 
and  worship,"     Presbyterianism  has  ever  been  characterized 


23 

by  the  revereuce  with  which  it  lias  bowed  to  the  authority  of 
Scripture,  and  the  zeal  with  which  it  has  defended  the  abso- 
lute supremacy  of  its  claims.  It  has  been  in  this  regard  pre- 
eminently a  witness-bearing  Church.  Its  testimony  has  been 
written  in  symbols,  uttered  in  Councils,  thundered  from  pul- 
pits, chanted  amidst  the  flames  of  persecution,  and  sealed  with 
martyrs'  blood.  The  time  is  coming  again  when  the  world 
must  look  to  Presbyterianism  to  vindicate  the  supremacy  and 
sovereignty  of  the  Word  of  God,  its  supernatural  and  plenary 
inspiration,  the  infallibility  and  unerrancy  of  its  every  line. 
It  is  in  view  of  this  coming  conflict  that  the  Church  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  represent  has  in  the  revision  of  its  Book  of 
Discipline  narrowed  the  definition  of  an  offense,  declaring  that 
nothing  "ought  to  be  considered  by  any  court  as  an  offense, 
or  admitted  as  a  matter  of  accusation,  which  cannot  be  proved 
to  be  such  from  Scripture  as  interpreted  in  the  standards  of 
the  Church."  As  Presbyterians,  learning  wisdom  by  the  past, 
we  must  stand  for  the  rights  of  Scripture  even  in  the  minutest 
things.  To  the  undying  honor  of  one  of  the  grand  old  war- 
riors of  King  David's  time  it  is  narrated  that  during  a  Philis- 
tine invasion  he  stood  all  daylong  in  the  midst  of  a  little  field 
of  lentiles  and  defended  it  single-handed  against  the  whole 
Philistine  host.  It  was  not  much  in  itself — only  a  little  patch 
of  herbs — but  it  was  a  part  of  the  sacred  soil,  and  he  would 
not  allow  the  foot  of  the  uncircumcised  to  pollute  it.  I  be- 
lieve the  first  great  work  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  future  to 
be  to  defend  every  foot  of  the  sacred  soil  of  Scripture,  and 
yield  not  an  inch  of  it  to  that  destructive  criticism  which 
would  despoil  it  of  all  its  wealth  and  disenchant  it  of  all  its 
glory. 

2.  The  second  of  these  redoubts  of  the  Church  of  God 
which  it  must  be  the  work  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  future 
to  man,  is  that  system  of  doctrine  which  is  popularly  but  in- 
accurately denominated  Calvinism.  No  ingenuous  student  of 
history,  let  his  religious  convictions  and  theological  tenets  be 
what  they  may,  can  conceal  from  himself  the  fact  that  all  that 
is  most  illustrious  in  the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  past, 
associates  itself  more  or  less  immediately  with  Calvinists  and 
Calvinism.  Call  the  roll  of  the  great  thinkers  and  writers  of 
the  Church  before  the  Reformation.  Take  the  list  alpha- 
beticallv,  beginning  with  Augustine,  Anselm  and  Aquinas, 
Basil,  Bernard  and  Bede;  go  throuo;h  the  whole  catalogue, 
and,  with  rarest  exception,  they  are  Calvinists.  Call  the  roll 
of  the  Reformers — Luther,  Farel,  Calvin,  Zwingle,  Beza,  Huss, 
Jerome  of  Prague,  Knox,  Cranmer,  etc. — all  Calvinists.  Call 
the  roll  of  confessors  and  martyrs  in  Scotland,  Belgium,  Hol- 
land, France,  Switzerland,  Germany — a  great  host  that  we 


24 

cannot  name  or  number — and  without  exception  Calvinists. 
Even  in  non-Calvinistic  England,  the  names  that  shed  undy- 
ing lustre  upon  her  testimony  for  the  truth,  are  those  of  Cal- 
vinists— Wiklif,  Tyndall,  Ridley,  Latimer,  Rogers,  etc. — all 
Calvinists.  Call  the  roll  of  those  heroic  sects,  that  through 
the  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  witness-bearers  for  the 
true  faith — Waldenses,  Albigenses,  Paulicians,  Culdees,  Bo- 
hemian brethren — all  Calvinists.  Call  the  roll  on  the  other 
hand  of  the  great  heretics  who  have  disturbed  the  peace  of 
the  Church  and  hindered  its  progress — Pelagius,  Arius,  So- 
cinus,  etc. — none  of  them  were  Calvinists.  See  what  Calvin- 
ism has  done  for  the  liberties  and  rights  of  man.  It  was  the 
Calvinists  of  France  who  saved  the  liberties  of  the  nation  from 
the  craft  of  Catherine  de  Medici,  and  from  the  tyranny  of  the 
House  of  Guise.  Those  unconquerable  heroes  of  the  Nether- 
lands, who,  in  resistance  of  the  tyranny  of  Spain,  poured  out 
their  blood  until  it  ran  in  streams  along  their  streets,  and  who, 
rather  than  submit  to  the  occupancy  of  their  soil  by  Philip  , 
broke  down  the  dykes,  and  let  in  upon  their  fairest  fields  the 
engulfing  sea,  were  Calvinists.  When  England  was  under  the 
iron  heel  of  Wentworth  and  Laud;  when  Ireland  was  in 
chains ;  when  Scotland  was  in  peril,  and  when  all  hope  of 
liberty  was  almost  gone — it  was  the  Calvinists  of  Scotland 
who  came  to  the  rescue,  who  not  only  retrieved  their  own 
liberties,  but  broke  the  fetters  of  Britain,  drove  the  tyrants 
from  the  throne,  and  roused  a  spirit  of  liberty  in  the  hearts  of 
the  English  people  that,  as  another  has  said,  "  trampled  down 
the  haughty  Cavaliers  like  puppets,  and  made  the  name  of  Eng- 
land terrible  by  land  and  sea."  And  when  we  come  to  Scot- 
land herself,  whose  children  since  the  days  of  Columbia  have 
imbibed  Calvinism  with  their  mothers'  milk,  it  is  impossible 
to  deny  that  her  Calvinistic  Presbyterianisra  has  made  her 
what  she  is;  that  as  Dr.  Moore,  in  his  "Power  and  Claims  of 
a  Calvinistic  Literature,"  has  said:  "From  the  earliest  strug- 
gle with  Popery  to  the  last  great  contest  for  Christ's  Crown 
and  Covenant,  the  Calvinism  of  Scotland  has  always  stood, 
like  her  own  Ben  Lomond,  a  grand  unchanging  witness  for 
the  majesty  of  God,  transmuting  the  very  storms  that  have 
raged  around  her  unwrinkled  brow  into  fountains  of  gushing 
purity  from  her  heart." 

Nor  would  it  be  possible  to  find  a  more  suggestive  illustra- 
tion of  the  power  and  preciousness  of  Calvinism  than  by  fol- 
lowing out  a  little  in  detail  the  analogy  thus  suggested  by  Dr. 
Moore,  and  likening  Calvinism  to  one  of  those  great  moun- 
tain chains  with  which  God  has  girdled  the  earth.  _  Rugged  in 
outline,  its  "Five  Points"  standing  apart  like  disconnected 
peaks,  yet  all  embraced  in  a  single  logical  chain ;  here  and 


25 

there  yawning  chasms  and  sombre  defiles,  uninviting  in  de- 
tail, but  as  a  whole  unutterably  sublime,  uplitting  us  heaven- 
ward in  thought  and  aspiration ;  with  lofty  heights  above  the 
fogs  and  mists  of  earth,  bathed  in  the  unclouded  sunlight  of 
God,  with  spiritual  atmosphere  like  crisp  mountain  air,  breath- 
ing invigoration  and  health ;  whilst  its  seamless  sides,  that 
open  themselves  to  no  plough  of  man,  are  the  great  water- 
sheds of  God's  grace,  "  transmuting,"  as  Dr.  Moore  says,  "  the 
storms  into  fountains,"  and  impregnating  the  falling  waters 
with  their  own  exhaustless  treasures  to  replenish  the  wasted 
fertilities  of  soil  in  the  valleys  below. 

It  is  for  the  perpetuation  of  this  great  system  of  Calvinism 
as  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  that  I  plead  as  the  second  work 
of  Presbyterianism  in  the  future.  It  is  by  a  great  law  of 
natural  afl&nity  that  Calvinism  and  Presbyterianism  have  in 
popular  parlance  become  synonymous  terms.  "Whilst  there 
are  other  denominations  whose  creeds  are  as  thoroughly  Cal- 
vinistic  as  ours,  Presbyterians  seem  always  to  have  had  the 
courage  of  their  convictions.  In  periods  when  Calvinism  has 
been  distasteful  and  unpopular  they  have  not  failed  to  avow  it, 
and  so  all  the  opprobrium  with  which  it  is  invested  in  the 
minds  of  its  enemies  has  been  visited  upon  them.  That  it 
should  ever  be  unpopular  seems  marvelous  when  we  reflect 
upon  what  we  have  already  seen  of  its  history.  That  it  should 
be  unpopular  in  this  country  seems  strangest  of  all ;  for  Ame- 
rica owes  everything  to  Calvinism.  Those  stern  Puritans  who 
laid  the  foundations  of  liberty  and  law  in  New  England  were 
Calvinists.  Those  sturdy  Hollanders,  whose  robust  virtues 
are  as  deeply  engraven  on  the  history  of  New  York,  as  their 
hard  names  are  on  its  topography,  were  Calvinists.  Those 
clear-thinking,  home-keeping,  liberty-loving  Scotch-Irish  who 
made  the  valleys  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  blossom  like 
the  garden  of  the  Lord,  were  Calvinists.  Those  ruddy-faced, 
broad-headed,  sinewy  Scotch,  that  found  new  highlands  in  the 
rugged  hills  and  fertile  slopes  of  North  Carolina,  and  forever 
associated  the  name  of  Mecklenburg  with  American  Indepen- 
dence, were  Calvinists.  Those  knightly  Huguenots  who  have 
left  the  impress  of  their  virtues  and  their  chivalry  upon  South 
Carolina  and  her  daughters  in  the  sisterhood  of  States,  were 
Calvinists.  And  what  shall  I  say  more  ?  for  the  time  would 
fail  me  to  tell  of  all  of  the  Gedeons  and  Baraks  and  Samsons 
of  this  Calvinistic  host. 

No  wonder  that  impartial  historians,  even  though  of  diver- 
gent creeds,  have  felt  constrained  to  say,  as  Eanke,  "  We  may 
consider  Calvin  as  the  founder  of  the  free  States  of  North 
America,"  or,  as  Bancroft,  "  He  that  will  not  honor  the  mem- 
ory and  respect  the  influence  of  Calvin  knows  but  little  of  the 


26 

origin  of  American  liberty."  No  wonder  that  Mr.  Froude, 
wlio  in  some  of  bis  earber  writings  vents  bis  spleen  upon  Cal- 
vinism, should  upon  maturer  acquaintance  with  its  working 
in  history,  write  that  "  it  has  been  able  to  inspire  the  bravest 
efforts  ever  made  by  man  to  break  the  yoke  of  unjust  author- 
ity ;"  that  "when  all  else  has  failed;  when  patriotism  has 
covered  its  face,  and  human  courage  has  broken  down  ;  when 
intellect  has  yielded  with  a  smile  or  a  sigh,  content  to  philoso- 
phize in  the  closet,  and  abroad  worship  with  the  vulgar; 
when  emotion,  and  sentiment,  and  tender,  imaginative  piety 
have  become  the  handmaids  of  superstition,  and  have  dreamt 
themselves  into  forgetfulness  that  there  was  any  difference  be- 
tween truth  and  lies,  the  slavish  form  of  belief,  called  Calvin- 
ism, has  borne  an  inflexible  front  to  illusion  and  mendacity, 
and  has  preferred  rather  to  be  ground  to  powder  like  flint, 
than  to  bend  before  violence,  or  melt  under  enervating  temp- 
tation." 

Fathers  and  brethren,  it  is  not  needful  to  look  far  into  the 
future  to  see  that  the  time  is  coming  when  there  will  be  im- 
peratively demanded  for  the  safety  of  all  our  institutions,  civil 
and  religious,  this  unswerving  allegiance  to  truth,  this  "  inflexi- 
ble front  to  illusion  and  mendacity,"  which,  according  to  Mr. 
Froude,  nothing  but  Calvinism  has  ever  been  able  to  maintain. 
When  we  look  at  the  vast  tide  of  immigration  sweeping  in 
upon  us,  bringing  every  phase  of  Christian,  Pagan  and  infidel 
belief;  when  we  look  at  the  gigantic  strides  of  Romanism  on 
the  one  hand  and  rationalism  on  the  other ;  when  we  look  at 
the  various  seedbeds  of  Socialism,  Communism,  Anarchism, 
Nihilism  in  our  great  cities ;  when  we  look  at  the  tendency  in 
these  directions  towards  the  disintegration  of  society  and  the 
destruction  of  law,  and  then  look,  on  the  other  hand,  at  the 
growth  of  those  gigantic  monetary  corporations  and  commer- 
cial trusts  which  seem  likely  to  place  all  power  in  the  hands 
of  the  moneyed  few,  and  open  the  door  to  unlimited  patronage 
and  corruption,  who  does  not  see  the  imperative  demand  for 
just  such  men  as  Froude  declares  to  be  the  oSspring  of  Cal- 
vinism, men  "  whose  life  was  as  upright  as  their  intellect  was 
commanding,  and  their  public  aims  untainted  with  selfishness  ;" 
men  "unalterably  just  where  duty  ren[uired  them  to  be  stern, 
but  with  the  tenderness  of  woman  in  their  hearts;"  men  who 
"  were  splintered  and  torn,  but  no  power  could  bend  or  melt 
them,"  men  who  "  abhorred,  as  no  body  of  men  ever  more  ab- 
horred, all  conscious  mendacity,  all  impurity,  all  moral  wrong 
of  every  kind,  so  far  as  they  could  recognize  it." 

And  yet  we  are  confronted  by  the  fact  to-day  that  at  the  end 
of  this  century  of  organized  Presbyterianism,  Calvinism  has 
not  the  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people  that  it  had  at  the 


27 

beginning.  The  Congregational  Cburch  which  was  then  thor 
oughly  Calvinistic  has  in  large  measure  lapsed  from  that  tlieo- 
centric  system  of  belief  which  was  the  glory  of  its  Puritan 
ancestry.  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  which  has  Cal- 
vinism deeply  imbedded  in  its  Thirty-nine  Articles,  is  leavened 
through  and  through  with  Arminianism.  The  Churches 
whose  creeds  are  Calvinistic  hesitate  in  many  instances  to  pro- 
claim the  doctrines  from  their  pulpits  in  their  full  Scriptural 
scope  and  significance.  Even  within  the  bosom  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  itself — the  very  citadel  of  Calvinism — a  re- 
actionary movement  seems  to  be  setting  in.  In  some  quarters 
it  appears  in  propositions  to  remove  certain  terms  or  to  tone 
down  certain  expressions  in  our  standards  ;  in  others  to  remove 
whole  paragraphs ;  whilst  from  a  high  source  comes  the  most 
radical  proposition  of  all,  to  reconstruct  our  standards  from 
beginning  to  end,  freeing  them  from  the  scholastic  terminology 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  "  retranslating  them  into  the 
growing  language  of  a  growing  civilization." 

As  opposed  to  all  this,  I  believe  that  if  the  Presbyterian 
Church  would  achieve  for  the  century  to  come  the  greatest 
possible  blessing,  it  must  be  her  mission  to  stand  up  for  these 
standards,  pure  and  simple,  to  resist  every  effort  to  alter  a  line 
or  erase  a  word,  and,  as  Calvinism  and  Presbyterianism  are 
popularly  treated  as  synonymous  terms,  and  all  the  oppro- 
brium that  in  the  popular  mind  rests  upon  Calvinism  is  visited 
upon  us,  count  it  our  glory  to  be  identified  with  a  system  which 
God  has  crowned  with  peculiar  marks  of  favor  in  the  past,  and 
see  that,  as  far  as  Presbyterianism  is  concerned,  the  banners  of 
Calvinism  shall  be  handed  down  to  the  next  century  with  not 
a  star  the  less  and  not  a  stain  upon  their  folds. 

3.  In  this  rapid  forecast  of  the  future  I  must  pass  to  a  third 
element  in  the  work  of  Presbyterianism — to  present  to  the 
world  in  our  ecclesiastical  polity,  as  it  adjusts  itself  to  new 
social  conditions  and  adapts  itself  to  the  future  growth  of  this 
rapidly  developing  country,  the  true  ideal  of  the  visible 
Church  of  God,  its  unity,  its  catholicity,  its  spirituality,  its 
happy  combination  of  flexibility  and  strength.  If  Presbyte- 
rianism is  true  to  its  principles  and  true  to  its  God,  there  is 
every  reason  why  it  should,  within  the  course  of  another  cen- 
tury, take  firmer  hold  upon  the  American  people  and  become 
more  largely  predominant  in  this  country  than  at  the  present 
time.  With  the  clearer  light  throA\Ti  upon  the  polity  of  the 
Apostolic  Church  by  recent  historical  investigation,  the  Scrip- 
turalness  of  Presbyterianism  is  rendered  more  than  ever  ap- 
parent. The  representative  character  of  its  government,  its 
fundamental  postulates  of  power  delegated  of  God  to  the  peo- 
ple, inherent  in  them  and  exercised  by  them  tlirough  their 
own  chosen  representatives,  with  the  checks  an''  balances  of  a 


28 

written  constitution,  a  dual  order  of  representation  and  a  sys- 
tem of  appellate  courts,  bring  it  into  thorough  sympathy  with 
a  people  whose  civil  goveroment  is  representative  and  repub- 
lican ;  a  people,  in  fact,  whose  civil  government  is  confessedly 
only  the  carrying  over  into  the  civil  sphere  of  those  princi- 
ples of  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,  which  Presbyterianism  has  for  centuries  illustrated. 
Standing,  as  it  does,  midway  between  prelacy  on  the  one  hand, 
with  its  assumption  of  autocratic  power,  and  independency  on 
the  other,  with  its  inherent  weakness  in  the  administration  of 
law,  and  its  fiery  despotism  of  irresponsible  majorities;  pre- 
senting the  true  basis  of  unity,  a  real  unity  and  not  a  mere 
uniformity,  an  organic  unity,  in  which  "  the  power  of  the 
whole  is  in  every  part,  and  the  power  of  the  whole  over  the 
power  of  every  part,"  it  commends  itself  to  all  as  a  system  in 
which  the  largest  measure  of  liberty  is  combined  with  the 
most  orderly  administration  of  law.  Its  expansiveness,  too, 
adapts  it  to  the  necessities  of  a  newly  opening,  rapidly  devel- 
oping country  like  this.  The  Presbyterian  householder,  who 
removes  with  his  family  into  one  of  our  far-  Western  prairies, 
does  not  leave  the  Church  behind  him  ;  he  carries  the  Church 
in  his  house.  When  other  households  remove  into  the  same 
neighborhood,  there  emerges  the  congregation,  and,  as  congre- 
gations multiply,  there  comes  by  the  natural  law  of  organic 
growth  the  Presbytery,  the  Synod  and  the  General  Assembly. 
When,  with  the  rapid  enlargement  of  territory  and  increase  of 
population,  a  single  General  Assembly  shall  be  unable  to  meet 
the  wants  of  the  whole  field,  it  will  be  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  organic  law  of  the  Church  to  provide  for  another 
and  higher  order  of  appellate  court,  and  if  the  whole  world 
should  in  a  single  day  become  Presbyterian,  the  genius  of  the 
system  would  provide  a  fifth,  or  oecumenical  court;  and  so, 
without  the  slightest  jar  to  its  machinery,  Presbyterianism 
could  receive  into  its  organic  unity  every  body  of  believers  in 
the  world. 

This  catholicity  of  Presbyterianism  gives  it  great  advan- 
tage in  its  competitive  race  with  other  forms  of  Church  gov- 
ernment. Then,  too,  its  theory  of  the  nature  and  effect  of  or- 
dination and  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the  sacraments,  to- 
gether with  the  broad  and  just  distinction  which  it  draws 
between  the  validity  of  an  ordinance  and  its  regularity,  be- 
tween Scripturalness  in  essence  and  Scripturalness  in  mode  of 
administration — these  open  the  way  for  it  to  exhibit,  without 
sacrifice  of  principle,  the  broadest  Christian  charity  and  the 
most  real  Christian  brotherhood  towards  all  branches  of  the 
Evangelical  Church.  It  recognizes  the  validity  of  Episcopal 
ordination,    notwithstanding    its    manifest    irregularity.     It 


29 

recognizes  the  validity  of  baptism  by  immersion,  although 
the  mode  is  un-Scriptural ;  and  thus,  in  the  spirit  of  the  prin- 
ciple which  says,  "  in  essentials,  unity  ;  in  non-essentials,  lib- 
erty; in  all  things  charity,"  its  pulpits  are  open  to  all  who 
preach  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  its  communion-table  to  all 
who  own  allegiance  to  the  Master  of  the  Feast.  And  this 
leads  to  a  consideration  of  that  which  must  be  an  important 
work  of  Presbyterianism  for  the  future,  namely,  to  present  to 
Christendom  the  only  practicable  solution  of  the  great  prob- 
lem of  Christian  union,  which  of  late  has  awakened  so  much 
interest  in  the  public  mind.  Only  two  plans  have  thus  far 
been  submitted.  One  that  all  the  denominations  shall  come 
together,  leaving  each  congregation  to  regulate  its  own  creed 
and  polity  and  internal  affairs  in  its  own  way,  which  would 
simply  be  to  adopt  Congregationalism,  and  leave  the  Cliurch 
without  any  real  unity  at  all — to  give  up  the  substance  for 
the  shadow.  The  other,  so  generously  and  courteously  pro- 
posed by  our  brethren  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
has  the  equally  fatal  defect  of  requiring  a  vitiation  of  the  or- 
dination of  all  who  have  not  been  Episcopally  ordained.  But 
in  Presbyterianism  the  validity  of  ordination  and  the  validity 
of  baptism  in  other  communions  would  be  protected.  None 
of  the  acts  of  these  Churches  would  be  invalidated  by  the 
acceptance  of  the  Presbyterian  polity.  And  if  the  Church  of 
God  shall  ever  come  together  in  visible  organic  union  before 
the  second  coming  of  our  Lord,  it  must,  as  far  as  we  can  see, 
be  upon  the  safe,  conservative  and  Scriptural  polity  of  Pres- 
byterianism. 

4.  This  forecast  of  the  work  of  Presbyterianism  for  the 
future  would  be  fatally  defective  if  I  did  not  allude  to  that 
which  after  all  is  the  great  mission  of  the  Church  in  the 
world,  the  evangelization  of  the  masses  both  in  our  own  and 
foreign  lands.  Now  that  the  Spirit  of  God  seems  to  have 
breathed  a  new  spirit  ot  evangelism  into  the  Churches;  now 
that  the  demands  of  Home  Missions  and  Foreign  Missions 
seem  to  lay  a  burden  of  souls  upon  the  heart  of  the  Church 
as  never  before  since  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  let  the  Presby- 
terian Church  arise  in  her  might,  let  her  realize  that  with  her 
Christocentric  theology  and  her  Scriptural  polity  she  is  fitted, 
as  no  other  Church  is,  to  win  the  world  for  Christ.  Let  her 
remember  that  the  Church  which  in  the  first  century  of  the 
Christian  era  carried  the  Gospel  in  the  face  of  fire  and  sword 
to  the  whole  Grecian  and  Roman  world,  numbering  its  Church 
organizations  by  thousands  and  its  converts  by  millions,  was 
Presbyterian.  With  the  same  system  of  doctrine  and  the 
same  ecclesiastical  polity,  the  same  glorious  Gospel,  the  same 
indwelling  spirit  and  the  same  ever-present  Lord,  there   is  no 


30 

reason  why  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  land  should  not 
by  the  year  1988  have  achieved  results  equally  glorious. 

To  the  attainment  of  this  end  no  new  machinery  is  needed, 
no  amended  creed,  no  altered  polity,  no  novel  devices,  no  sen- 
sational methods,  no  gewgaws  of  rhetorical  or  ritualistic  art. 
What  we  need  is  simply  and  solely  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Ghost — such  a  baptism  as  was  received  by  the  Apostolic 
Church  in  Pentecostal  times. 

Let  me  say  further,  that  to  the  accomplishment  of  these  re- 
sults the  organic  union  of  the  two  bodies  that  join  in  these 
solemnities  to-day  is  not  necessary.  It  may  be  the  will  of  the 
Great  Head  of  the  Church  that  this  union,  of  which  some  are 
so  sanguine,  shall  be  speedily  accomplished.  If  this  can  be 
done  intelligently,  cordially  and  consistently  with  principle, 
surely  there  is  no  heart  in  all  evangelical  Christendom  that 
will  not  rejoice.  But  it  may  be  the  will  of  our  Divine  Lord 
that  these  two  Churches,  while  by  conscientious  convictions 
held  organically  apart,  shall  illustrate  the  true  unity  of  the 
spirit  by  keeping  side  by  side  in  closest  bonds  of  sympathy 
and  fraternal  cooperation.  It  sometimes  occurs  in  the  natural 
world  that  an  earthquake  shock  rends  a  great  mountain  chain 
asunder.  When  the  rent  is  first  made  the  whole  aspect  is  for- 
bidding. The  two  faces  stand  like  implacable  foes  frowning 
at  one  another.  But  as  time  advances  the  blessed  agencies  of 
the  Great  Peace-maker  in  nature  are  at  work.  The  rough 
faces  are  chiseled  down  to  smoothness,  the  sharp  corners  are 
rounded  away.  In  every  little  seam  and  niche  along  the 
faces  of  the  cliff  the  wild  flower  spreads  its  petals  and  the 
fern  droops  its  graceful  frond.  The  woodbine  and  the  cle- 
matis fall  in  festoons  over  the  edge  above,  and  the  verdure 
creeps  along  the  sides  from  the  valley  below.  The  stream 
that  went  fretting  and  roaring  through  the  gorge  has  worn  its 
channel  smooth  and  goes  dimpling  and  purliug  now,  overhung 
with  forest  drapery  and  margined  with  flowers.  The  sun- 
beams that  fall  on  one  side  reflect  their  warm  tints  lovingly 
upon  the  other.  The  songs  of  the  birds  and  the  perfumes  of 
the  flowers  are  wafted  across.  Men  walk  through  and  look 
up  and  know  not  which  face  most  to  admire,  and  feel  that 
each  would  be  incomplete  without  the  other. 

Brethren,  in  this  rending  asunder  of  our  great  Presbyterian 
Church  in  this  country  we  have  reached  the  period  of  the 
sunlight,  the  music  of  the  birds  and  the  springing  of  the 
flowers.  Organic  union  may  or  may  not  come.  That  which 
is  better  is  here ;  "for  lo,  the  winter  is  past,  the  rain  is  over 
and  gone,  the  flowers  appear  on  the  earth,  the  time  of  the 
singing  of  birds  is  come  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  heard 
in  our  land," 


PRESBYTERIANISM  AND  EDUCATION. 


By  Rev.  Simon  J  McPherson,  D.D. 

Chicago,  III. 


THE  Dictionaire  de  Pedagogie  reminds  us  that  "  Histori- 
cally, the  school  has  been  in  all  countries  the  daughter 
of  the  Church,"  The  relation  is  no  doubt  owing  to  the 
fact  that  a  nation's  religion  embodies  its  highest  ideals  and  de- 
termines the  deepest  opinions  of  its  people.  The  first  schools 
are  associated  with  the  temples,  and  the  earliest  teachers 
belong  to  the  hieratic  class.  For  example,  the  Celestial  Em- 
pire is  as  truly  Confucian  in  her  education,  and  in  the  civil 
service  for  which  it  prepares  her  citizens,  as  in  her  system  of 
ancestral  worship.  The  education  of  the  Hindoos  inculcates 
their  mysticism  in  philosophy  and  their  caste  in  life  as  a  part 
of  their  native  Brahmanism.  The  priests  of  ancient  Egypt 
controlled  education  as  absolutely  as  government,  architecture 
and  the  rites  of  worship.  The  education  of  Athens  was 
aesthetic,  and  that  of  Eome  practical,  military  and  legal,  like 
their  respective  religions.  Among  the  Israelites,  education 
was  domestic,  and  at  the  same  time  theocratic.  The  one  great 
text-book  of  Mohammedanism  is  the  Koran. 

We  need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  that  by  the  advent  of 
Christianity  the  germs  of  a  radically  new  education  were 
planted  in  the  bosom  of  humanity.  Jesus  Christ  undermined 
the  prejudices  and  limitations  of  Paganism  by  revealing  truth 
in  its  final  forms,  and  by  presenting  in  his  own  person  an  ab- 
solute example  of  the  perfect  humanity  to  which  this  truth 
must  lead.  He  disclosed  the  beauty  of  holiness  which  his  new 
law  of  love  develops  as  the  ideal  of  education.  By  his  atone- 
ment for  sin  and  his  mastery  of  death  he  unfolded  the  measure- 
less possibilities  of  every  member  of  our  race.  He  revolu- 
tionized the  relations,  not  only  of  manhood,  but  also  of  woman- 
hood, and  even  of  infancy,  by  making  known  the  gracious 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  universal  brotherhood  of  mankind. 
By  his  gift  of  the  quickening  Spirit,  he  aroused  new  thoughts, 
new  hopes,  new  motives  and  endeavors  in  all  his  disciples ; 
and  by  his  personal  training,  both  of  the  Twelve  and  of  the 
multitude,  he  concreted   new  and  authoritative   methods  of 


32 

instruction.  Yet  just  because  this  Christian  education,  as  a 
stranger  in  the  fallen  world,  encountered  tremendous  obstacles, 
it  leavened  general  society  very  slowly.  For  three  hundred 
years  Christians  were  a  proscribed  and  persecuted  class.  But 
while  they  were  often  compelled  to  patronize  Pagan  schools, 
they  taught  their  children  the  Scriptures  with  tender  solici- 
tude at  their  humble  homes  and  in  their  secluded  places  of 
worship,  they  set  up  catechetical  schools  to  prepare  the  candi- 
dates for  baptism,  and  eventually  they  organized  the  theological 
seminary  at  Alexandria,  which  was  the  birth-place  of  scientific 
Christian  learning.  Their  influence  widened  with  accelerating 
rapidity  until  the  hordes  of  our  own  northern  ancestors  pro- 
fessed the  new  faith,  and  the  Empire  eventually  established 
Christianity  as  the  State  religion. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  slow  but  real  progress  was  made 
in  education.  Monastic  schools  were  introduced  to  train  the 
ruling  classes,  and  to  preserve  and  transmit  the  relics  of  an- 
cient literatures.  The  cathed^-al  and  parochial  schools  followed 
with  their  metaphysical  and  catechetical  forms  of  discipline. 
Charlemagne,  the  hero  of  a  millennium,  made  nobly  intelligent 
efforts  to  improve  education  and  to  include  in  it  what  he 
called  "instruction  in  the  sciences;"  but  his  permanent 
success  in  overcoming  mediteval  inertness  was  very  incomplete. 
With  the  "  Burgher  Schools,"  secular  education  dawned  faintly 
and  fitfully  at  the  commercial  centres.  "  The  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life "  pioneered  the  chief  of  several  tentative  en- 
deavors to  instruct  the  poor.  Meanwhile,  female  education 
remained  practically  unknown.  As  Rosenkranz  shows,  educa- 
tion in  the  Greek  Church  became  prevailingly  monkish,  andin 
the  Roman  Church,  prevailingly  sacerdotal  and  chivalric.  The 
cloister  and  the  castle  were  more  and  more  the  representative 
institutions,  as  the  monk  and  the  knight  were  the  representa- 
tive men.  In  general,  the  contaminating  politico-religious 
compromises  introduced  by  Constantine,  the  imperfect  assimi- 
lation of  alien  forms  of  learning  received  from  Greeks  and 
Saracens,  the  remnants  of  Paganism,  the  benumbing  external 
consolidation  of  the  papacy,  and  the  heterogeneous  conglomera- 
tion of  races  in  society,  Avhile  quickening  thought  in  a  few 
directions,  kept  Christian  education  essentially  inchoate  and 
even  corrupt.  The  pitiable  condition  of  the  masses  through- 
out the  period  is  suggested  by  the  maxim,  "Ignorance  is  the 
mother  of  devotion."  Lacking  our  means  of  intercommunica- 
tion, lacking  the  printing  press,  lacking  our  emancipating  con- 
ceptions of  human  nature  in  its  own  right  and  accepting  the 
current  theory  of  tbe  divine  right  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
rulers,  the  people  themselves  could  not  be  educated. 

Finally,  as  the  gray  of  morning  began  to  break  in  upon  the 


33 

long  night,  a  timid  but  genuine  scientific  spirit  emerged  among 
the  larger  minds.  From  the  twelfth  century  onward,  almost 
independently  of  the  Church  and  State,  chiefly  through  what 
Prof.  Painter  calls  the  "  Free  associations  of  learned  men  and 
aspiring  youths,"  the  great  universities,  beginning  with 
Bologna  and  Salerno,  rose  and  multiplied.  At  first  shackled 
by  scholasticism,  appended  to  monasteries  and  used  principally 
as  the  educators  of  priests  and  nobles,  they  were  gradually  set 
free  by  the  wonderful  providence  of  God.  The  invention  of 
gunpowder  struck  a  death-blow  at  the  physical  foundations  of 
feudalism.  Copernicus  exploded  the  absurdities  of  the  Ptole- 
maic system  of  cosmogony.  The  discovery  of  the  new  world 
widened  enormously  the  horizon  of  tlie  old  world's  vision. 
The  printing  press  brought  the  treasures  of  master  minds 
within  the  reach  of  all  readers.  The  downfall  of  Constanti- 
nople dispersed  Greek  scholars  over  the  West.  Dante, 
Boccaccio  and  Petrarch  heralded  the  Renaissance.  The  eccle- 
siastical despotism  at  Rome  lost  its  prestige.  The  minds  of 
men  were  widely  disinthralled ;  and  the  humanists,  headed  by 
such  leaders  as  Erasmus  and  Agricola,  found  common  hearts 
open  to  a  freer  education.  The  Revival  of  Learning  was 
begun. 

At  this  critical  juncture  supervened  the  epoch-making 
Reformation.  Luther  is  a  synonym  of  a  world-wide  revolu- 
tion in  education.  More  radical  than  the  humanists,  he  struck 
the  key-note  of  men's  emancipation  in  his  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith,  and  anchored  their  new-found  freedom  to  the 
Gibraltar  of  divinely  revealed  truth.  Bringing  them  face  to 
face  with  God,  without  the  mediation  of  any  intruding  priest- 
hood, he  rediscovered  the  right  of  private  judgment  and  the 
fact  of  personal  responsibility.  Here  he  found  the  principle 
of  individualism,  which  is  the  palladium  of  human  liberty  and 
the  incentive  and  safeguard  of  sound  education.  By  making 
each  one  accountable  for  his  own  salvation,  he  rendered  it 
necessary  for  every  child  to  learn  how  to  read  at  least  the 
Bible;  and  by  the  humane  emphasis  which  he  put  upon  the 
present  life,  he  fostered  secular  education.  His  coadjutor, 
Melancthon,  came  to  be  known  as  the  "  Preceptor  Germanise." 
Speaking  for  both,  Luther  wrote  to  the  Councillors  of  German 
cities:  "Even  if  there  were  no  soul,  and  we  had  not  the  least 
need  of  schools  and  the  languages  for  the  sake  of  the  Scrip- 
tures and  of  God,  this  one  reason  would  suffice  to  cause  the 
establishment  of  schools  everywhere,  both  for  boys  and  girls, 
namely,  that  the  world  needs  accomplished  men,  and  women 
also,  for  maintaining  its  outward  temporal  prosperity."  Here 
we  have  the  popular  education  of  later  times  in  embryo. 

It  was  from  the  great  vantage  ground  of  the  Reformation 


34 

that  moderu  Calvinism  began  its  work  for  education.  Being 
himself  among  the  best  scholars  of  his  day  in  language,  sci- 
ence, law,  philosophy  and  theology,  John  Calvin  fully  appre- 
ciated the  importance  of  this  work  and  aided  greatly  in  its 
promotion.  He  was  a  natural  teacher  of  men.  In  Geneva  he 
not  only  enjoined  the  domestic  instruction  of  children,  and 
systematized  theological  courses  for  ministers,  but  his  ecclesi- 
astical pohty  of  1541  provided  for  all,  teachers  of  the  ancient 
languages  and  the  natural  sciences  as  well  as  Christian  doc- 
trines. "With  gratifying  consistency,  he  held  to  the  view  of 
education  whicti  makes  God,  with  His  holy  will,  uniform  law, 
and  mighty  works,  the  central  sun  for  every  system  of  human 
thought  and  action,  and  which  keeps  in  mind  the  symmetrical 
development  of  man's  whole  nature  as  a  unit. 

Now,  Calvinism,  as  a  type  of  worship  and  of  character,  a 
scheme  of  doctrine,  and  a  mode  of  Church  government  and 
administration,  is  tantamount  to  Presbyterianism.  Without 
attempting  to  exclude  other  Calvinistic  Churches,  like  those 
of  the  Puritans,  for  example,  we  may,  perhaps,  best  discrimi- 
nate the  peculiar  educational  qualities  of  Presbyterianism  by 
taking  an  historical  survey  of  these  three  leading  and  repre- 
sentative aspects  of  Calvinism. 

First,  we  should  glance  at  its  characteristic  forms  of  wor- 
ship, and  at  the  constitutional  pattern  of  character  which 
it  naturally  develops.  Its  forms  of  worship  are  usually  simple 
and  non-ritualistic.  We  should  of  course  make  a  mistake 
if  we  supposed  that  it  excludes  all  liturgies.  The  Eeformed 
Churches  of  Geneva  and  other  Swiss  cantons,  of  France,  Ger- 
many, Holland,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  even  of  Hungary 
and  Bohemia,  like  the  Church  of  the  Waldenses,  have  all  been 
virtually  Presbyterian.  Some  of  them,  like  the  French  Prot- 
estant, and  the  German,  and  the  Dutch,  Reformed  Churches, 
have  always  retained  certain  set  forms  which  they  have  justi- 
fied by  precedents  antedating  the  rise  of  Prelatical  institutions. 
Calvin  and  Knox  prepared  simple  rituals  respectively  for 
Geneva  and  Scotland,  and  both  were  consulted  about  the  Eng- 
lish Book  of  Commoa.  Prayer,  objecting  only  to  what  Calvin 
called  its  "  tolerable  fooleries."  In  its  famous  "  Directory  for 
the  Public  Worship  of  God,"  the  Westminster  Assembly,  as  a 
compromise,  recommended  a  few  liturgical  forms,  which,  how- 
ever, were  not  to  be  imposed  upon  the  churches,  but  were  to 
supply  "  help  and  furniture  "  for  such  ministers  as  might  need 
them.  While  there  have  been  extreme  positions  assumed  by 
local  bodies,  which  were  incited  to  iconoclasm  by  seeing  super- 
stitious practices,  Presbyterians  have  never  put  liturgy  under 
a  general  and  permanent  ban.  They  have  usually  placed  it 
among   indifferent  matters  of  liberty  and  expediency,  to  be 


•  35 

determined  by  the  individual  cliurclies.  But  in  view  of  the 
dangers  of  formalistic  aud  spectacular  services,  the  common 
Presbyterian  custom  has  been  to  follow  an  order  which  is  plain 
and  reasonable,  and  perhaps  occasionally  austere.  Often  de- 
fective in  beautiful  ceremonies  which  appeal  to  the  aesthetic 
instincts,  sometimes  deficient  also  in  the  enthusiasm  which 
warms  the  feelings,  Presbyterianism  has  steadily  made  its 
specific  impression  upon  the  mind  rather  than  the  tastes  or 
the  emotions,  appealing  to  ideas  and  convictions  more  directly 
than  to  the  sentiments  or  the  external  senses.  Accordingly, 
Mr.  Froude  has  said,  "When  emotion  and  sentiment  and 
tender  imaginative  piety  have  become  the  handmaids  of  super- 
stitions, and  have  dreamt  themselves  into  forgetfulness  that 
there  is  any  difference  between  lies  and  the  truth,  the  slavish 
form  of  belief  called  Calvinism,  in  one  or  other  of  its  many 
forms,  has  borne  ever  an  inflexible  front  to  illusion  and  men- 
dacity, and  preferred  rather  to  be  ground  to  powder  like 
flint  than  to  bend  before  violence  or  melt  under  enervating 
temptation." 

In  particular,  Presbyterianism  has  always  exalted  the  ser- 
mon as  a  leading  part  of  worship  and  thus  emphasized  the 
teaching  function  of  the  minister  to  the  extinction  of  the 
priestly.  Instruction  and  edification — education  in  the  truth — 
has  distinguished  its  pulpits  from  the  beginning.  Times  of 
intellectual  and  moral  quickening  have  uniformly  been  marked 
by  great  preaching.  The  apostolic  period,  the  periods  of  the 
Crusades,  of  the  Eeformation,  and  of  the  famous  revivals, 
present  the  sermon  as  a  characteristic  form  of  literature  and 
feature  of  public  life.  The  high  themes  of  the  Christian 
pulpit,  in  the  hands  of  trained  and  earnest  men,  have  supplied 
a  measureless  educational  force.  Wherever  the  preacher  has 
been  "  wise,  he  still  taught  the  people  knowledge."  For 
example.  Lord  Mansfield,  Lord  Clarendon,  Archbishop  Tillot- 
son  and  John  Locke  alike  proposed,  "for  the  attainment  of 
right  reasoning,  the  constant  reading  of  Chilliugworth."  Lord 
Chatham  ascribed  the  secret  of  his  eloquent  style  largely  to 
the  inflaences  of  Dr.  Barrow's  sermons.  Dugald  Stewart  de- 
clared that  Robert  Hall  combined  "the  beauties  of  Johnson, 
Addison  and  Burke,  without  their  imperfections."  Prof. 
Park  reminds  us  that  Jeremy  Taylor  influenced  the  style  of 
several  leading  British  essayists,  among  them  Charles  Lamb  ; 
that  Herbert  stamped  his  literary  qualities  upon  quaint  old 
Isaac  Walton,  and  that  Whitefield's  "  power  was  felt  by  Hume, 
Bolingbroke,  Foote,  Chesterfield,  Garrick,  Rittenhouse,  Frank- 
lin, Erskine  and  Edwards,"  as  well  as  "by  the  miners  and 
colliers  and  fishermen  of  England,  and  the  paupers,  slaves  and 
Indiana   of  America."     Everybody   knows    the    educational 


36  • 

stimulus  given  by  sucii  ancient  preachers  as  Augustine,  Cliry- 
sostom  and  Ambrose,  and  by  such  modern  preachers  as  Ed- 
wards, Whitefield,  Chalmers  and  Spurgeon.  Popular  ignor- 
ance scatters  like  mist  before  the  sun  in  the  presence  of  able, 
convincing  and  persuasive  sermons. 

In  view  of  this  uniform  importance  which  Presbyterianism 
has  attached  to  the  didactic  vocation  of  the  pulpit,  it  naturally 
produces  a  peculiar  type  of  experience  and  character  in  its 
worshipers.  If  they  come  short  in  artistic  sensibility,  if 
they  are  reserved  in  the  expression  of  passionate  fervor,  they 
are,  as  a  class,  highly  developed  in  the  substantial  elements  of 
intellect,  judgment  and  conscience.  They  are  trained  to  think, 
to  reason,  to  weigh  and  Co  decide  for  themselves.  They  know 
the  value  of  facts,  they  learn  to  draw  inferences  from  facts 
and  to  array  principles  and  laws  scientifically  by  analyzing 
these  inferences.  They  can  generally  give  a  reason  for  the 
hope  that  is  in  them.  For  example,  the  Scotch  Presbyterian, 
who,  like  the  crow,  goes  everywhere,  is  no  doubt  logical  and 
cautious,  and,  in  extreme  cases,  even  canny.  The  Dutch  Pres- 
byterian, in  Holland,  New  Amsterdam  or  Cape  Colony,  is  logi- 
cal and  sturdy,  and  he  may  be  sometimes  in  danger  of  seeming 
phlegmatic.  Both  these  pure  types  of  Presbyterian  education 
are  intelligent,  if  not  brilliant.  Both  follow  common  sense 
and  appoint  themselves  detectives  of  humbug,  and  both  are 
remarkably  free  from  visionary  whims,  caprices  and  vagaries. 
They  are  safely  progressive,  because  they  are  stoutly  conserva- 
tive. Like  the  sea,  they  kiss  the  feet  of  the  mountains  of 
ascertained  truth,  and  yet  are  pure  and  powerful  because  they 
never  stand  still.  Presbyterianism  also  insists  that  not  so 
much  culture  or  efBciency  as  character,  which  insures  the  one 
and  presupposes  the  other,  is  the  final  aim  of  a  complete  edu- 
cation. It  teaches  that  to  be  thoroughly  educated  a  man 
must  not  only  know  the  truth,  but  must  use  it,  as  the  West- 
minster Confession  states,  "in  order  to  goodness."  He  must 
distinctly  recognize  the  rights,  not  merely  of  humanity  and 
nature,  but  especially  of  God  and  eternity.  He  must  have 
enjoyed  the  harmonious  unfolding  and  disciplining  of  all  his 
powers  in  their  due  order  and  proportion  by  bringing  his 
passions  to  the  heel  of  "  a  vigorous  will,  the  servant  of  a 
tender  conscience."  Every  well -instructed  Presbyterian  says 
to  himself  what  John  Adams  wrote  to  his  -son:  "Your  con- 
science is  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  God  Almighty  in 
your  breast.  See  to  it  that  this  minister  never  negotiates  in 
vain.  Attend  to  him  in  opposition  to  all  the  counts  in  the 
world."  The  Calvinistic  variety  of  character  thus  puts  for- 
ward the  ideal  of  duty,  as  inspired  by  love  and  obedience  to 
the  Divine  Sovereign.     M.  Taine  declares  that  the  Calvinist 


37 

"  is  troubled  not  only  about  what  he  must  believe,  but  what 
he  ought  to  do ;  he  craves  an  answer  to  his  doubts,  but  especi- 
ally a  rule  for  his  conduct ;  he  is  tormented  by  the  notion  of 
his  ignorance,  but  also  by  the  horror  of  his  vices ;  he  seeks 
God,  but  duty  also.  In  his  eyes  the  two  are  but  one."  Your 
Presbyterian  accordingly  aims  at  a  kind  of  education  which 
will  make  him  right  as  well  as  devout,  practical,  as  well  as  be- 
lieving, courageous  as  well  as  aspiring.  Stern  meu  these  Cal- 
vinists  may  be,  but  when  there  is  hard  work  to  be  done  for 
the  world  in  education,  in  social  reform,  in  government,  or  in 
war,  Milton,  Knox,  Coligny  and  William  the  Silent  show  that 
they  do  not  flee  to  the  rear.  M.  Reuan  says  of  Calvin  him- 
self that  he  "succeeded  in  an  age  and  in  a  country  which 
called  for  a  reaction  toward  Christianity,  simply  because  he 
was  the  most  Christian  man  in  his  generation." 

But  the  educational  influence  of  Presbyterianism  is  largely, 
perhaps  chiefly,  determined  by  its  creed.  Let  us  notice  the 
disciplinary  value  of  one  or  two  of  its  leading  doctrines. 

One  doctrine,  which  it  has  shared  with  other  evangelical 
Churches,  but  upon  which  it  has  always  put  great  emphasis,  is 
that  the  Bible  is  the  sole  and  supreme  standard  of  faith  and 
practice,  and  that  it  is  addressed  to  the  reason  of  every  man. 
By  thus  making  individual  conscience  the  first  arbiter  of  reve- 
lation, it  brings  into  the  foreground  the  crucial  educational 
power  of  personal  responsibility.  Stipulating  that  God  is  no 
respector  of  persons  and  that  every  man  shall  bear  his  own 
burden  and  stand  or  fall  to  his  own  Master,  it  has  concentrated 
an  immense  body  of  virtual  pedagogics  in  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures.  Protestants  have  now  translated  God's  Word  into 
the  vernacular  of  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  different  peo- 
ples. Just  conceive  of  the  educational  power  of  the  German 
or  the  English  versions  alone !  Recall,  too,  the  investigations 
in  history,  archeology,  ethnology,  chronology,  criticism,  phil- 
osophy and  other  sciences,  which  have  sprung  directly  out  of 
our  conception  of  the  Bible.  Then  estimate  the  immediate  ed- 
ucational influence  over  myriads  of  men,  women  and  children, 
resulting  from  the  familv  and  personal  reading  of  this  various 
book.  Countless  multitudes  hear  stated  expositions  of  it  from 
the  sacred  desk ;  almost  twenty  millions  of  youths  arc  learn- 
ing it  every  week  in  Sunday-school.  Destroy  all  the  Bibles 
in  existence,  and  you  could  reproduce  a  copy  by  quoting  from 
any  one  of  half  a  dozen  national  literatures,  or  from  the  mem- 
ories of  those  who  are  unlearned,  but  by  this  sign,  not  ignor- 
ant. The  Bible,  however  it  may  be  excluded  from  our  public 
schools,  is  still  the  text-book  of  Christendom  ;  and  in  effecting 
this  blessed  consummation,  Presbyterianism  has  had  a  proud 
part. 


38 

A  more  distinctive  doctrine  of  Presbyterian  Churches  is  the 
predestinating  sovereignty  of  our  God,  Without  attempting, 
at  this  time,  to  appraise  its  theological  value,  we  must  recog- 
nize its  mighty  educating  power,  in  a  variety  of  ways.  First 
of  all,  it  tends  to  concentrate  the  mind  upon  God  Himself,  who, 
as  Daniel  Webster  said,  is  the  greatest  thought  that  can 
occupy  a  human  soul.  The  remarkable  energy  and  grasp  of 
"  the  Institutes  of  the  Christian  Religion "  is  mainly  due  to 
Calvin's  overpowering  sense  of  the  Invisible.  While  we  can- 
not by  searching  find  the  Almighty  to  perfection,  we  can  draw 
out  all  our  capabilities  in  the  search  after  Him  who  is  a  Spirit, 
who  is  Light,  who  is  Love,  who  is  Life.  It  will  be  the  inex- 
haustible delight  of  eternity  to  study  Him,  For  while  he  is 
not  far  from  every  one  of  us,  yet  He  is  infinite.  He  dis- 
courages the  alphabetic  essays  of  no  beginner,  nor  does  he  dis- 
appoint the  genius  of  the  most  heroic  achiever.  His  light 
dawns  upon  us  like  that  of  the  rising  sun,  which  seems  to  rise 
from  behind  the  nearest  hill,  but  which  is  presently  found  to 
be  many  incomprehensible  millions  of  miles  away.  Dante 
sings : 

"  O  how  far  removed, 
Predestination !  is  thy  foot  from  such 
As  see  not  the  First  Cause  entire. "    .    ,    ,    , 


Yet  esteem 

"  Such  scantiness  of  knowledge  our  delight: 
For  all  our  good  is,  in  that  primal  good. 
Concentrate;  and  God's  will  and  ours  are  one." 

Again,  nothing  short  of  belief  in  God's  predestinating  ma- 
jesty will  suppress  the  native  egotism  and  lawlessness  which 
make  our  education  so  difficult.  Self-knowledge  becomes 
practicable  for  us  only  as  we  behold  our  own  littleness  pro- 
jected against  the  luminous  back-ground  of  God's  infinitude. 
Child-like  humility  is  alike  the  first  effect  of  true  acquaint- 
ance with  Him  and  the  first  condition  of  any  large  knowledge. 
Then,  too,  paradoxical  as  the  statement  may  appear,  I  do  not 
see  how  we  can  have  any'intelligent  belief  in  man's  free  will 
unless  we  have  precedent  faith  in  God's  elective  decrees. 
Presbyterians,  who  as  a  class  have  held  to  the  freedopi  of  the 
human  will,  agree  with  Emerson  in  saying:  "When  the  Mas- 
ter of  the  universe  has  points  to  carry  in  His  Government  He 
impresses  His  will  in  the  structure  of  minds." 

The  effort  to  accept  that  higher  Will  must  certainly  vacate 
the  disposition  to  deny  God's  foreordinating  plan.  I  do  not 
say  that  he  who  would  reconcile  divine  decrees  and  human 
choices  will  have  an  easy  task.     But  then,  no  easy  task  has  a 


39 

high  educational  value.  It  is  the  unignored  hard  problems 
that  develop  mind.     Those  who  have 

"  Eeasoned  high 
Of  Providence,  Foreknowledge,  Will  and  Fate, 
Fixed  fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute ; 
And  found  no  end,  in  wondering  mazes  lost," 

are  at  least  put  on  their  mettle  as  students.  They  learn  by 
their  discipline  to  reverence  mystery,  and  they  develop  larger 
hopes  by  looking  for  the  future's  explanations. 

Moreover,  the  doctrine  of  predestination  is  one  great  secret 
of  liberty  as  between  man  and  man. 

"  Men  over  men 
He  made  not  Lord  :  such  title  to  Himself 
Keserving,  human  left  from  human  free." 

Mr.  Bancroft,  who  is  a  Unitarian,  says  that  this  doctrine 
"  lifted  the  individual  above  pope  and  prelate,  and  priest  and 
presbyter,  above  Catholic  church  and  national  church,  and 
general  synod,  above  indulgencies,  remissions,  and  absolu- 
tions from  fellow- mortals,  and  brought  tim  into  immediate 
dependence  upon  God,  whose  eternal,  irreversible  decree  is 
made  by  Himself  alone,  not  arbitrarily,  but  according  to  His 
own  highest  wisdom  and  justice,"  Such  a  rescue  withdrew 
education  as  the  prerogative  of  a  feudal  class  or  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal organism  and  conferred  it  as  a  franchise  upon  the  indi- 
vidual. 

But  this  doctrine  has  another  "  education  value."  Predesti- 
nation, while  it  must  ever  be  distinguished  from  fatalism,  is,  to 
a  large  degree,  the  theological  analogue  of  the  scientific  theory 
of  determinism.  It  is  a  correlative  of  the  unity  and  unif®rmity 
and  universality  of  natural  law.  With  a  different  nomencla- 
ture, with  a  different  idea  of  the  truth  of  supernaturalism, 
modern  scientific  men,  of  the  first  rank,  generally  hold  Calvin's 
view  of  nature.  Mr.  Froude  cites  as  examples  John  Stuart 
Mill  and  Mr.  Buckle ;  with  equal  appositeness  he  might  have 
named  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  Mr.  Lecky,  Prof.  Huxley,  and 
many  more.  Sadly  as  these  may  diverge  on  the  question  of 
God's  rational  Avill  and  free  personality,  extremely  as  their 
necessitarian  metaphysics  may  conflict  with  the  true  doctrine 
of  His  providence  and  grace,  they  have  a  similar  impression  of 
the  co-ordinated  facts  of  observation.  Thus,  Calvin  antici- 
pated all  that  is  true  in  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  results  of 
modern  scientific  education.  And  no  wonder !  For,  as  a  skep- 
tical English  historian  says,  the  Calvinist  "falls  back  upon 
the  experienced  reality  of  facts,  *  *  *  *  fj^cts  w^iich  no 
casuistry  can  explain  away.     And  if  we  believe  at  all  that  the 


40 

world  is  governed  by  a  conscious  and  intelligent  Being,  we 
must  believe  also,  however  we  may  reconcile  it  witli  our  own 
ideas,  that  these  anomalies  have  not  arisen  by  accident,  but 
have  been  ordered  of  purpose  and  design." 

But  aside  from  all  particular  doctrines, just  observe  the  edu- 
cational power  of  the  dogmatizing  and  systematizing  tenden- 
cies of  Presbyterianism,  Calvin's  mind,  like  Paul's,  was  con- 
structive, and  disposed  to  make  a  system.  Luther  broke  down 
sacerdotalism,  but,  as  Guizot  intimates,  "  to  Calvin  was  left  the 
more  difficult  task  of  reconstruction  and  permanent  organiza- 
tion." The  Presbyterian  symbols,  such  as  the  Scotch  or  the 
Helvetic  Confessions,  the  canons  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  and  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  are  at  least  triumphs  of 
logic  and  therefore  friendly  to  education.  Our  day  indulges 
in  a  good  deal  of  criticism  upon  dogmas  and  theological  sys- 
tems. But  we  should  remember  that  a  dogma  is  just  the  accu- 
rate definition  of  a  belief,  and  that  a  theological  confession  is 
a  sustained  effort  to  reduce  creed-statements  to  a  symmetrical 
and  scientific  form.  Analysis,  definition  and  generalization, 
which  are  so  highly  characteristic  of  Presbyterianism,  are  dis- 
tinctive of  knowledo-e,  in  proportion  as  it  becomes  science,  and 
are  therefore  essentials  of  education.  An  uneducated  man  can 
hardly  understand  the  Presbyterian  system  ;  and  if  more  men 
were  thoroughly  educated,  there  would  be  current  in  popular 
literature  fewer  caricatures  of  it. 

But  the  doctrines  of  Calvinism  have  not  only  exerted  an 
educational  influence,  and  demanded  scientific  knowledge  in 
those  who  would  formulate  or  even  apprehend  them,  they  have 
also  been  uniformly  associated  with  the  actual  establishment 
of  higher  institutions  of  learning.  Whether  you  call  it  effect, 
as  I  dp,  or  only  concomitant,  it  is  at  least  a  fact  that  these  in- 
stitutions have  followed  Calvinism  everywhere.  No  other 
Church  has  insisted  more  steadily  than  the  Presbyterian  upon 
a  highly  educated  ministry,  in  Geneva,  Holland,  Scotland,  and 
America.  This  has  often  been  made  a  ground  of  cavil  against 
our  Church.  But  it  is  gratifying  to  note  that  the  objectors 
have  been  coming  back  to  our  position.  For  example,  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterians  split  off  from  us  in  1810,  princi- 
pally because  they  demurred  to  a  classical  education  as  a 
necessary  qualification  for  the  ministry.  But  in  1886,  they 
had  two  theological  seminaries  with  nineteen  professors  and 
three  hundred  and  twenty-seven  students,  and  besides  a  fifth 
one  just  organizing,  at  least  four  general  universities  with  an 
aagregate  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty-one  students.  The 
earlier  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  also  criticised  our  stand- 
ard of  ministerial  education.  In  1830,  when  their  general 
opo-anization  in  this  country  was  already  forty-four  years  old. 


41 

they  had  no  theological  seminary  and  only  two  small  col- 
leges, neither  of  which  became  permanent.  Bat  now,  iiaviug 
adopted  Calvinistic  principles  in  education,  they  are  every- 
where the  patrons  of  learning  ;  and  with  the  largest  Protestant 
Church  membership,  they  have  likewise  more  schools  and 
more  students  than  any  other  denomination. 

The  Bishops'  address  to  the  General  Conference  of  the  pres- 
ent month  advises  "  that  only  men  of  scholarly  minds,  who  are 
able  to  cope  with  the  arguments  of  scofiers,  should  be  placed 
in  the  pulpits." 

Meanwhile,  the  Calvinistic  churches  have  maintained  their 
custom  of  fostering  education,  for  both  ministers  and  laymen. 
All  the  theological  schools  and  all  the  educational  aid  societies 
in  America  have  come  into  existence  within  the  century  which 
we  commemorate  to-day.  The  first  theological  school,  in  con- 
nection with  an  American  college,  was  added  to  "  Liberty 
Hall,"  where  Archibald  Alexander  graduated,  in  January, 
179-i,  by  the  Synod  of  Virginia.  The  oldest  separate  theo- 
logical seminaries — Andover,  organized  in  1707  ;  New  Bruns- 
wick, in  1810;  and  Princeton,  in  1812 — were  all  Calvinistic; 
and  two  of  them,  of  course,  are  Presbyterian.  What  is  the 
present  attitude  of  our  theological  education?  In  1886  the 
Commissioner  of  Education  reported  that  this  country  had 
142  theological  schools,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  with  6370 
students.  Of  these,  fifty-seven  schools,  or  40  per  cent,  and 
3099  students,  or  nearly  49  per  cent,  are  Calvinistic;  and 
that,  too,  exclusive  of  Episcopalians  and  Lutherans,  who  are 
both  Augustinian  in  some  of  their  formularies.  Moreover, 
twenty-five  schools,  nearly  18  per  cent,  and  1200  students, 
nearly  19  per  cent,  are  in  distinctly  Presbyterian  institutions. 
Observe  the  ratio.  Dr.  Dorchester,  himself  a  Methodist,  in  his 
new  volume,  called  "  Christianity  in  the  United  States,"  shows 
that  less  than  2^  per  cent  of  the  populatioa  are  members, 
and  estimates  that  only  about  8|-  per  cent  are  adherents,  of 
Presbyterian  churches.  That  is,  while  only  8|-  per  cent  of 
the  people  affiliate  with  Presbyterian  churches,  nearly  19  per 
cent  of  all  the  theological  students  are  in  Presbyterian  semi- 
naries. 

Moreover,  the  relatively  broad  and  generous  quality  of 
this  education  will  become  evident  if  it  is  contrasted  with  the 
autocratic  training  mapjied  our  for  the  Jesuits  by  their 
great  founder,  Loyola,  who  was  contemporary  with  Calvin. 
The  primary  object  of  Jesuit  training  is  to  beget  the  unreason- 
ing obedience  of  a  stick  or  a  dead  body  to  a  human  superior. 
It  enslaves  the  intellect  and  will ;  it  stifles  individualism  in 
conscience   and  life.      But   Protestant   ministers   are    taught 


42 

above  all  things  to  know  the  Bible,  to  obey  God,  and  not  to  be 
in  bondage  to  any  man. 

Presbyterianism  has  given  equal  prominence  to  colleges  and 
universities  for  laymen.  It  has  never  favored  divorce  be- 
tween religious  and  secular  education,  because  it  holds  that 
education,  instead  of  being  fractional,  must  take  cognizance 
of  the  entire  man.  Its  primary  object  and  endeavor,  no 
doubt,  has  been  to  prepare  him  for  eternity,  but  always  by 
preparing  him  as  well  for  the  responsibilities  of  the  present 
world.  It  has  adopted  secular  instruction  as  an  integral  part 
of  education.  For  example,  Knox's  First  Book  of  Discipline, 
in  1560,  planned  for  a  college  "  in  every  notable  town  "  and 
for  "replenishing"  the  three  universities  of  St.  Andrews, 
Glasgow  and  Aberdeen.  The  University  of  Edinburgh, 
founded  in  1583,  was,  as  Harrison  shows,  in  "  Oure  Tounis 
Colledge,"  the  eagerly  desired  child  of  the  Scottish  Eeforma- 
tion.  Amidst  the  horrors  and  sacrifices  of  war,  the  Nether- 
land  Presbyterians  founded  at  least  four  great  universities ; 
as,  for  example,  in  1586,  during  a  brief  lall  in  the  tempest  of 
battle,  that  of  Franeker,  whe^e  the  tuition  was  made  almost 
gratuitous,  and  in  1636,  that  of  Utrecht,  which  soon  attracted 
students  from  all  over  the  world  and  sent  not  a  few  of  her 
graduates  to  the  New  World.  Previous  to  the  revocation  of 
the  edict  of  Nantes  (1660),  as  Lorimer's  History  shows,  the 
Protestant  Church  of  France  "  could  boast  of  not  less  than  five 
universities,"  and  of  a  "  college  or  grammar  school  in  each  of 
the  thirteen  provinces."  Is  it  strange  that  our  three  oldest 
colleges.  Harvard,  Yale  and  Princeton,  were  founded  by  Cal- 
vinists?  The  records  of  all  our  early  ecclesiastical  bodies  teem 
with  allusions  to  these  desires  and  endeavors  after  learning. 
Whoever  will  read  the  "  Records  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  " 
in  America,  covering  the  period  from  1706  to  1788,  may  find 
evidence  of  nearly  fifty  formal  actions  referring  to  education 
at  the  Log  College,  Yale,  Princeton  and  elsewhere. 

But  how  stands  the  register  for  the  century  now  closing? 
It  is  a  significant  fact  that  nothing  has  more  distinguished  the 
past  five  years  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  North,  than  the 
phenomenal  development  of  "  The  Board  of  Aid  for  Colleges 
and  Academies."  But  take  one  group  of  general  statistics  to 
show  the  present  condition  of  things.  The  Commissioner  of 
Education  reports  for  1886  that  the  whole  country  has  346 
colleges  and  universities,  with  31,565  students  in  the  col- 
legiate courses.  Of  these,  according  to  the  most  careful 
estimate  that  I  can  make,  109  institutions,  or  over  31  per 
cent,  and  nearly  19,000  students,  or  60  per  cent,  may  fairly 
be  regarded  as  under  Calvinistic  auspices.  When  we  limit 
the   view   to    purely    Presbyterian    institutions,    the    result 


43 

is  equally  encouraging.  Just  forty-six,  or  13  per  cent  of  the 
346  colleges  and  universities,  and  7266  students,  or  23  per 
cent  of  all,  are  under  Presbyterian  control.  That  is,  8|  per 
cent  of  the  population  govern  13  per  cent,  of  the  colleges, 
and  directly  educate  23  per  cent  of  the  college  students. 
Of  course,  this  reckoning  leaves  out  of  the  account  institu- 
tions under  State  control  and  many  undenominational  col- 
leges that  are  largely  supported  and  patronized  by  Presby- 
terians. 

A  third  element  of  Calvinism,  bearing  especially  upon  the 
question  of  popular  education,  is  found  in  its  polity  or  method 
of  ecclesiastical  government  and  administration.  It  can  co- 
exist with  every  form  of  civil  order  except  despotism.  It 
tolerates  constitutional  monarchy,  as  in  Scotland.  In  our  own 
country  it  has  largely  developed,  through  our  sister  Congrega- 
tional and  Baptist  Churches,  into  ecclesiastical  democracy. 
But  its  natural  choice,  as  originally  in  Geneva,  is  Presbyteri- 
anism,  or  an  ecclesiastical  republic.  At  all  events,  it  is,  as 
Abraham  Lincoln  said  of  our  country,  government  of  the 
people,  for  the  people  and  by  the  people.  This  is  a  feature 
of  Calvinism  which  intelligent  outsiders  are  constantly  attest- 
ing. For  example,  Buckle  says :  "  The  more  society  tends  to 
equality,  the  more  likely  it  is  that  its  theological  doctrines 
will  be  Calvinistic."  De  Tocqueville  called  Calvinism  "  a 
democratic  and  republican  religion."  Leek 7  says:  "The 
Scotch  Kirk  was  by  its  constitution  essentially  republican." 
Green,  the  historian  of  the  English  people,  said :  "  The 
system  of  Presbyterianism  *  *  *  bound  Scotland 
together  by  its  administrative  organization,  *  *  * 
while  it  called  the  people  at  large  by  the  power  it  con- 
ferred upon  the  lay  elders  in  each  congregation  to  a  voice, 
and,  as  it  proved,  a  decisive  voice  in  the  administration 
of  affairs,  *  *  *  Ko  Church  constitution  has  proved  in 
practice  so  democratic  as  that  of  Scotland."  Castelar,  the 
eloquent  tribune  of  Spain,  declares:  "The  Anglo  Saxon  de- 
mocracy is  the  product  of  a  severe  theology  learned  by  the 
few  Christian  fugitives  in  the  gloomy  cities  of  Holland  and  of 
Switzerland."  Ranke  writes  that  "John  Calvin  was  virtually 
the  founder  of  America."  Rufus  Clioate  attributed  to  Geneva 
"the  republican  constitution  framed  in  the  cabin  of  the  May- 
flower^ *  *  *  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  the  independence 
of  America."  No  wonder  that  King  James  should  think  "a 
Scot's  Presbytery  agrees  Avith  monarchy  as  well  as  God 
and  the  devil."  In  view  of  these  disinterested  testimonies  it 
is  pleasant  to  remember  that  the  Synod  of  this  Centennial 
City  was  the  first  religious  body  in  the  country  to  declare 
in  favor  of  separation  from  Great  Britain,  and  that  Wither- 


44 

spoon  was  the  only  clerical  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. 

Calvinism  in  its  polity,  therefore,  stands  for  two  cognate 
principles.  One  is  the  distinctive  ISTew  England  idea  of  per- 
sonal liberty,  the  secret  of  progress.  But  the  first  impulse  of 
a  personal  liberty  which  has  not  degenerated  into  license  is 
self-culture.  For  liberty  is  just  a  chance  to  develoj)  one's  in- 
dividuality. The  other  principle  is  voluntary  organization, 
the  balance-wheel  of  constitutional  conservatism,  which  origi- 
nally pre-empted  our  Middle  States.  Combining  these  two 
principles  in  the  exercise  of  free  self-government,  Presbyteri- 
anism,  since  the  days  of  Calvin,  Orange  and  Knox,  has  in- 
sisted upon  individual  liberty,  and  has  in  that  interest  dis- 
tinguished between  Church  and  State,  claiming  that  each 
should  retain  its  own  autonomy.  It  has  believed,  too,  in  a 
written  constitution,  acknowledged,  as  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  said, 
"The  power  and  rights  of  the  people,"  governed  by  elected 
representatives  equal  in  rank,  and  held  that  the  Church  is 
"  one,  in  the  sense  that  a  smaller  part  is  subject  to  a  larger 
and  a  larger  to  the  whole" — popular  government  by  repre- 
sentative majorities.  In  short,  as  I  have  said,  it  is  republican 
in  polity — the  Republic  of  God. 

But  we  all  know  that  the  first  necessity  of  a  successful  re- 
public is  general  intelligence.  Presbyterianism  has  thus  been 
compelled  by  the  genius  of  its  organization,  even  by  the  in- 
stinct of  selt-preservatiou,  to  promote  the  education  of  all  of 
its  people.  Mr.  Bancroft  is  quoted  assaying  that  John  Calvin 
is  the  father  of  the  American  Common  School  System.  It 
seems  to  me  rather  that  he  is  its  grandfather,  its  progenitor, 
through  John  Knox  and  John  of  Nassau.  History,  I  think, 
traces  the  route  by  which  that  glorious  system  came  tT)  us 
from  Geneva,  mainly  by  way  of  Scotland  and  Holland.  We 
know  what  a  mighty  impulse  Calvin,  following  Luther,  gave 
to  general  education  by  opening  the  Bible  to  every  individual 
and  by  founding  schools.  But  our  present  concern  is  not  so 
much  to  discover  who  started  such  impulses,  which  were  felt 
by  all  Protestants,  as  to  learn  who  first  crystallized  the  im- 
pulses into  a  comprehensive  and  practical  system. 

The  honor  belongs  to  Scotland  and  Knox.  Previous  to  his 
day  many  even  of  the  Scottish  nobles  were  unable  to  write 
their  own  names.  But  in  1560  the  First  Book  of  Discipline 
directed  the  Presbyterians  to  "take  care  of  children  and 
youths  "  and  "  to  instruct  them  in  the  first  rudiments,"  including 
Calvin's  Catechism,  by  establishing  a  school  and  appointing  a 
school-master  in  every  ijarish.  Henceforward  the  ministers 
and  Church  Courts  never  ceased  to  foster  primary  education. 
In  1567  the  Parliament  formally  granted  to  the  Church  the 


45 

superintendence  of  this  truly  national  enterprise.  By  1613 
these  elementary  schools  were  planted  in  two-thirds  of  the 
parishes.  Sessions  were  in  the  habit  of  defraying  the  ex- 
penses of  the  poor  out  of  the  parish  funds,  and  efforts  were 
made  to  compel  school  attendance.  In  certain  sections  of  the 
country  special  taxes  were  imposed  to  support  school-masters. 
Summarily,  Kiddle  and  Schem's  "Cyclopedia  of  Education" 
says  that  Scotland  is  entitled  "to  the  credit  of  having  first 
established  schools  for  primary  instruction  to  be  supported  at 
the  public  expense." 

That  claim  may  perhaps  be  disputed  by  Holland.  It  is  at 
least  certain  that  years  before  the  rise  of  the  Dutch  Eepublic, 
education  was  quite  general  among  the  thrifty  Yankees  of  the 
low  countries.  "It  was  their  boast,"  says  Dr.  Fisher,  "  that, 
common  laborers,  even  the  fishermen  who  dwelt  in  the  huts  of 
Friesland,  could  read  and  write,  and  discuss  the  interpretation 
of  Scripture."  During  the  twelve  years'  truce,  in  the  weary 
war  with  feudal  Spain,  the  Synod  of  Dordrecht  passed  the 
decree  in  favor  of  education,  which  established  church  schools 
all  over  Holland.  The  eldest  brother  of  William  of  Nassau 
voiced  the  common  sentiment  in  these  memorable  words : 
"  You  must  urge  upon  the  States-General  that  they  establish 
free  schools ;  "  and  Motley  wrote  in  1869:  "The  Ncav  Eng- 
land Pilgrims,  during  their  re.-idence  in  the  glorious  country 
of  Holland,  found  already  established  the  system  of  free 
schools,  which  John  of  Nassau  had  recommended."  Now 
consider  that  the  reformers  of  England,  many  of  whom  had 
been  educated  in  Geneva,  sustained  intimate  relations  with 
Calvin  and  with  Knox,  that  they  were  close  observers  of  what 
Scotland  had  been  doing  for  education  in  the  years  imme- 
diately preceding  the  migration  to  New  England,  and  that  the 
Pilgrim  fathers  actually  witnessed  the  Dutch  schools  in  opera- 
tion, and  you  can  readily  make  out  the  genealogy  of  the 
American  common  school  system.  The  impulse  which 
prompted  it  was  Protestant;  the  precedent  which  fashioned  it 
was  Presbyterian.  At  a  single  leap  the  colonists  joined  the 
educational  vanguard  with  Scotland  and  Holland,  and  acquired 
such  popular  schools  as  old  England  could  not  match  for  two 
centuries.  Nay,  as  there  was  educational  progress  from 
Luther  to  Calvin,  and  again  from  Calvin  to  Knox,  so  there 
was  further  progress  from  Scotland  and  Holland  to  New  Eng- 
land. While  isolated  free  schools  existed  six  or  eight  years 
earlier,  as  at  Dorchester  and  Salem,  Bancroft  says,  "  In  1647 
it  was  ordered  in  all  the  Puritan  colonies  that  every  township, 
after  the  Lord  hath  increased  them  to  fifty  householders,  shall 
appoint  one  to  teach  all  children  to  read  and  write ;  and 
where  any  town  shall  increase  to  the  number  of  one  hundred 


46 

families,  they  shall  set  up  a  grammar  school,  the  masters  thereof 
being  able  to  instruct  youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for 
the  university."  That  is  really  the  beginning  of  the  public 
free  schools  of  Massachusetts  and  America.  Contrast  this 
■with  the  contrary  course  taken  by  the  prelatic  population  of 
the  Old  Dominion.  "  I  thank  God,"  said  Sir  William  Berk- 
ley, in  1661,  "there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing;  and  I 
hope  we  shall  not  have  these  hundred  years ;  for  learning  has 
brought  disobedience  and  heresy  and  sects  into  the  world,  and 
printing  has  divulged  them."  But  while  prelatic  Virginia  was 
conserving  the  darkness,  Presbyterian  Virginia,  as,  for  exam- 
ple, the  Presbytery  of  Hanover,  was  obeying  God's  first  fiat 
by  cherishing  a  learned  ministry  and  by  teaching  the  people. 
North  and  South  in  those  old  heroic  days,  the  Presbyterians 
were  united  in  fostering  education  and  liberty,  faith  and  order. 
The  Huguenots,  the  Dutch  and  the  Scotch  in  the  Carolinas,  in 
Georgia,  Virginia,  Maryland  and  Delaware,  as  well  as  in  Penn- 
sylvania, New  Jersey  and  New  York,  like  the  Calvinists  of 
New  England,  "all  brought  the  Church,  the  Bible  and  the 
schools  with  them."     American  Calvinism  never 

"Dreads  the  skeptic's  puny  hands, 
While  near  her  school  the  church  spire  stands, 
Nor  fears  the  blinded  bigot's  rule, 
While  near  her  church  spire  stands  a  school." 

God  grant  in  these  centennial  days,  that  as  the  Old  Lights 
and  the  New  Lights  clasped  hands  to  establish  their  ecclesias- 
tical solidarity,  and  to  help  Princeton  College  reveal  the  light 
of  the  world,  and  as  the  Old  School  and  the  New  School  forgot 
their  dead  issues  in  the  holier  love  and  clearer  intelhgencethat 
an  intervening  generation  had  taught  them,  so  the  new  South 
and  the  new  North,  standing  together  beneath  the  historic  bell 
of  liberty  with  glowing  memories  of  that  wonderful  legacy 
which  the  Protestant  centuries  have  bestowed  upon  them  in 
common,  may  arrange  their  small  differences,  remember  their 
essential  identity  in  creed,  and,  in  a  manly,  mutual,  Christian, 
Presbyterian  and  organic  way,  reunite  to  teach  God's  truth 
and  grace  to  adjacent  multitudes  that  linger  in  ignorance  and 
sin. 


CALVINISM  AND    HUMAN   PROGRESS. 


By  Hon.  James  S.  Cothran,  M.C. 
Abbeville,  S.  C. 


IT  IS  impossible  to  tell  how  far  Calvinism  has  affectea  what 
we  call  material  progress.  I  propose  to  take  a  higher 
view  of  the  subject  than  this ;  and  consider  it  as  ai5ecting 
the  social  and  religious  condition,  touching  mankind  at  every 
point,  like  the  atmosphere  that  surrounds  us,  and  inspiring 
and  sustaining  religious  and  civil  life. 

Perhaps  Watt  and  Stephenson  and  Fulton  and  Morse  and 
many  others  would  have  been  great  inventors  if  John  Calvin 
had  never  lived.  It  is  safe,  however,  to  assert  that  where  law 
and  order  reign,  where  justice  sits  in  the  seat  of  authority, 
where  virtue  and  intelligence  prevail,  where  the  vicious  and 
foolish  are  restrained,  where  tlie  organic  laws,  which  we 
neither  made  nor  can  alter,  are  understood  and  obeyed,  where 
the  Christian  magistrate,  in  the  fear  of  God,  uses  power  for 
the  common  good;  art  and  science  and  invention  have  their 
fullest  development. 

Let  me  repeat;  the  fear  of  God,  the  reign  of  law,  justice  in 
authority,  the  rule  of  virtue  and  intelligence,  the  restraint 
of  folly  and  vice,  obedience  to  organic  laws,  the  exercise  of 
power  for  the  common  good — these  are  the  essence,  and  are 
the  pith  and  marrow  of  Calvinism. 

In  this  condition  of  things  it  matters  little  what  the  form  of 
civil  government  may  be,  whether  autocratic,  aristocratic  or 
republican,  its  contented  subjects  demand  no  constitutional 
changes,  and  indeed  are  that  happy  people  whose  God  is  the 
Lord. 

Eeverse  this  condition  by  subverting  the  law,  corrupt  its 
administration,  make  profligacy  and  wrong  paramount  to  vir- 
tue and  right,  give  to  folly  sovereignty  over  wisdom,  and 
because  of  the  reign  of  the  wicked  the  people  will  mourn. 

History,  both  sacred  and  profane,  furnishes  abundant  evi- 
dence in  all  ages  and  in  every  country,  of  the  recurrence  of 
this  deplorable  state  of  affairs.  It  existed  in  Egypt,  the  birth- 
place of  civilization,  for  centuries,  perhaps,  before  the  exodus 
of  the  Israelites.  It  marked  the  course  and  the  conduct  of 
that  peculiar  people,  so  often  the  subjects  of  Jehovah's  reproof 


48 

and  punishment.  That  unto  these  a  aivine  revelation  was 
made  we  do  both  believe  and  know,  for  the  lively  oracles  are 
with  us  even  unto  this  day. 

What  revelation,  if  any,  was  made  to  the  Egyptians  we 
know  not ;  they  did  believe  in  a  life  beyond  the  grave,  and  in 
a  judgment-bar  at  which  Osiris  should  preside,  and  reward 
them  in  a  future  state,  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body. 

Without  entering  the  domain  of  unprofitable  speculation, 
we  know  that,  in  all  ages,  it  hath  pleased  God  to  preserve  for 
His  own  glory,  a  remnant,  varying  in  numbers,  but  always  the 
same  in  faith.  From  the  time  of  the  seven  thousand  who 
refused  to  bow  the  knee  to  Baal,  and  who  were  Calvinists  all, 
lacking  only  the  name,  amid  the  perils  and  persecutions  of  the 
Eeformation,  through  the  bloody  revolution  of  1688,  even 
down  to  our  own  colonial  struggle,  this  remnant — it  might 
offend  some  in  this  promiscuous  audience  to  call  them  the 
elect,  but  call  them  by  whatsoever  name  you  will — have 
rebelled  against  unlawful  authority;  have  denounced  wicked- 
ness in  high  places,  whether  of  Church  or  State;  have  reproved 
the  world  of  sin;  and  have  maintained  in  its  integrity  the 
faith  delivered  to  the  saints,  with  fortitude  which  never 
flagged,  with  courage  which  stopped  not  to  calculate  cost  or 
consequences,  and  with  a  zeal  which  welcomed  and  has  so 
often  worn  the  martyr's  crown. 

Faith,  Hope  and  Love,  are  the  trinity  of  the  Christian  vir- 
tues— their  complement  in  the  citizen,  is  courage,  fortitude 
and  patience,  and  the  greatest  of  these  is  patience.  Combine 
in  the  individual  these  qualities,  which  do  so  readily  unite, 
for  the  virtues,  as  do  the  vices,  grow  in  clusters,  and  the  truest 
and  highest  type  of  Calvinism  is  produced. 

The  time  and  the  opportunity  for  their  exercise  are  ever 
recurring;  again  and  again  have  they  preserved  to  the  Church 
pure  and  undefiled  religion,  and  as  often  have  they  secured  for 
the  State  the  blessings  of  religious  liberty. 

Who  will  venture  to  say  in  the  presence  of  a  spirit  of  agnos- 
ticism, of  theosophy,  of  Buddhism,  and  of  other  forms  of  infi- 
delity and  practical  unbelief,  with  looseness  of  doctrine,  and 
appalling  unconcern  for  all  sacred  things,  with  the  insidious 
and  seductive  oppositions  of  science,  falsely  so-called,  that  the 
time  shall  never  come,  nor  be  even  far  distant,  when  another 
great  and  decisive  struggle  shall  be  waged  between  the  armies 
of  anti-Christ  and  the  hosts  of  Calvinism?  It  is  the  unfin- 
ished, the  inevitable,  ever-existing  and  irrepressible  conflict, 
which  has  been  waged  from  the  very  beginning  with  varying 
fortunes.  At  times  the  champions  of  the  truth  and  of  the 
right  have  sought,  as  did  the  strong  man  of  old,  their  pleasures 


49 

among  the  Philistines,  even  as  some  of  the  present  day,  profess- 
ing Christians  and  beheversinthe  doctrines  of  Calvinism,  have 
hidden  in  their  tents,  as  did  Achan,  some  wedge  of  gold.  It 
may  be  in  the  shape  of  that  gold  itself,  the  love  of  which  is  the 
root  of  all  evil;  it  may  be  in  ambitious  and  self-seeking  pro- 
jects; or  in  some  compromise  with  the  world  for  its  honors, 
its  emoluments  and  its  sensual  enjoyments. 

Well  might  I  pause  here,  and  call  upon  the  Centurions,  the 
captains  of  our  host,  to  send  in  the  morning  reports,  show- 
ing the  condition,  the  number  and  efficiency  of  their  com- 
mands. What  of  your  commissariat  ?  Is  it  full  of  the  bread 
of  life?  What  of  your  ammunition  chests,  your  swords,  your 
helmets,  your  bucklers?  Your  own  feet, and  the  feet  of  your 
soldiers,  are  they  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  Gospel  of 
peace?  What  is  the  state  of  drill  and  discipline,  how  many 
efficient  can  you  report  for  duty,  how  many  are  weary 
and  faint  and  sick,  how  many  on  furlough  have  gone  down 
into  Philistia  to  seek  their  pleasures  there,  how  many,  false  to 
your  standards,  have  deserted  from  your  ranks  and  gone  over 
to  the  enemy? 

Shall  I  beg  pardon  of  the  Centurions  for  asking  these 
pertinent  questions;  or  apologize  to  a  Calvinist  for  using 
this  metaphor — the  Christian  warfare — of  which  the  great 
apostle  to  the  gentiles  and  good  old  John  Bunyan  were  so 
fond  ?     I  trow  not. 

Then  go  with  me  to  one  skilled  in  the  art  of  human  war — 
unhappily  there  are  many  such — and  he  will  tell  you  that 
every  army  owes  its  victories  more  to  its  skillful  and  efficient 
captains  than  to  its  field  officers.  Our  ministers  are  cap- 
tains all,  and  equal  in  rank,  as  were  the  twelve  who  fol- 
lowed Jesus  of  Nazareth  in  his  earthly  ministry,  acknowl- 
edging no  superior  officer  except  Him,  the  great  Captain  of 
our  salvation. 

Tlie  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God,  but  not  neces- 
sarily in  continuance,  for  when  they  read  upon  the  coin  the 
image  and  superscription,  and  were  told  to  render  unto  Ctesar 
the  things  that  be  Ciesar's,  they  were  at  the  same  time  com- 
manded to  render  unto  God  the  things  that  be  God's.  I  cannot 
pursue  farther  this  part  of  my  subject,  nor  longer  await  the 
morning  reports  of  the  Centurions. 

For  more  than  two  centuries  after  the  death  of  Calvin  the 
whole  Protestant  Church  was  contented  to  accept,  and  did 
accept,  as  the  true  doctrine,  that  which  we  maintain  to-day 
as  Calvinism,  The  first  attack  upon  it  was  made  by  atheists 
and  infidels;  these,  their  works  and  their  readers  have  all 
perished  together.  Then  followed  what  were  known  as  liberal 
thinkers,  assailing  Calvinism  as  dishonoring  the  wisdom,  the 


60 

justice  and  even  tlie  very  mercy  of  God.  Denying  the  doc- 
trine of  total  depravity,  of  original  sin,  and  j  ustiiication  by 
faith  alone,  they  held  to  the  precept,  "  Work  out  your  own 
salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,"  ignoring  the  conclusion, 
"  for  it  is  God  who  worketh  in  you  to  will  and  to  do  of  His 
own  good  pleasure."  Thatitis  monstrous  to  believe  that  man, 
without  special  grace,  which  he  cannot  merit,  or  by  his  own 
•works  attain,  is  doomed  to  everlasting  punishment.  Unable  to 
keep  the  Commandments,  yet  failing  in  one  of  these  is  guilty 
of  all.  Lost  forever  by  a  predestined  decree  pronounced  against 
him  before  he  was  born,  and  so  deprived  of  hope  to  live  out 
his  days  upon  the  earth  in  utter  despair. 

I  frankly  acknowledge  my  inability  to  meet  these  objec- 
tions so  readily  suggested  by  the  carnal  mind,  which  is  itself 
enmity  against  God.  When  asked  to  reconcile  the  obvious 
teachings  of  free  agency  and  election,  I  can  only  say,  my 
brother,  "it  doth  .not  yet  appear."  Believest  thou  the 
prophets  !  Believest  thou  the  inspired  Word  of  God  !  I  know 
that  thou  believest.  Then  read  the  8th  chapter  of  Komans  and 
be  no  longer  faithless,  but  believing.  To  that  disciple  whom 
Jesus  loved  it  may  have  been  revealed  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos; 
or  to  that  other,  born,  as  it  were,  out  of  due  time,  when  caught 
up  into  the  rapture  of  the  third  heaven.  If  the  one  had  been 
able  to  write  the  books  which  the  world  itself  could  not  con- 
tain, or  the  other  had  been  permitted  to  speak  the  words 
which  it  was  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter,  this  and  much 
else  might  have  been  made  plain  to  us,  but  it  hath  been  in 
infinite  wisdom  adjudged  otherwise.  "Secret  things  belong 
unto  the  Lord  our  God,  but  things  that  are  revealed  belong 
unto  us  and  to  our  children."  Herein  lies  the  fault  of  the 
scientist,  who  in  his  pride  of  knowledge  would  explore  and  find 
out  these  forbidden  mysteries,  making  knowledge  the  founda- 
tion of  belief  and  believing  nothing  that  he  does  not  under- 
stand or  know.  Where  then  is  the  room  for  his  faith — that 
faith  without  which  no  man  shall  see  God,  and  which  "  is  the 
substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen?" 

It  is  in  our  human  nature  to  estimate  the  same  degree  of 
prudence  in  those  we  love,  as  cowardice  in  our  enemies;  fru- 
gality in  the  one  is  parsimony  in  the  other ;  bravery  becomes 
rashness,  zeal  becomes  fanaticism,  and  adherence  to  doctrine 
is  denounced  as  bigotry. 

Admit  this  premise,  which  will  hardly  be  denied,  and  I  am 
prepared  to  admit  the  charge  that  Calvinism  is  narrow,  illibe- 
ral and  intolerant.  Narrow,  because  its  followers  seek  to  enter 
in  at  the  straight  and  narrow  gate.  Illiberal,  for  it  makes  no 
compromise  with  error.     Intolerant  of  sin,  but  not  of  sinners, 


61 

for  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  His  glory.  Would  that 
every  other  sect  felt  more  of  intolerance  for  that  which  is  evil 
and  false  and  wicked. 

In  the  language  of  one  who  surely  is  not  a  bigot  nor  a 
fanatic,  permit  me  to  ask  you,  "How  it  came  to  pass  that,  if 
Calvinism  is  indeed  the  hard  and  unreasonable  creed  which 
modern  enlightenment  declares  it  to  be,  it  has  possessed  such 
singular  attractions  in  past  times  for  some  of  the  greatest  men 
that  ever  lived  ?  And  how,  being,  as  we  are  told,  fatal  to  mo- 
rality, because  it  denies  free  will,  the  first  symptom  of  its  ope- 
ration wherever  it  establishes  itself,  was  to  obliterate  the  dis- 
tinction between  sins  and  crimes,  and  to  make  tlie  moral  law 
the  rule  for  States  as  well  as  persons?  I  shall  ask  you  again, 
why,  if  it  is  a  creed  of  intellectual  servitude,  it  was  able  to 
inspire  and  sustain  the  bravest  eftbrts  ever  made  by  man  to 
break  the  yoke  of  unjust  authority — when  all  else  has  failed 
— when  patriotism  has  covered  its  face  and  human  courage 
has  broken  down,  when  intellect  has  yielded,  as  Gibbon  says, 
with  a  smile  or  a  sigh,  content  to  philosophize  in  the  closet 
and  abroad  worship  with  the  vulgar ;  when  emotion  and  senti- 
ment and  tender  imaginative  piety  have  become  the  hand- 
maids of  superstition,  and  have  dreamt  themselves  into  forget- 
fulness  that  there  is  any  difference  between  lies  and  truth,  the 
slavish  form  of  belief,  called  Calvinism,  in  one  or  the  other  of 
its  many  forms,  has  borne  ever  an  inflexible  front  to  illusion 
and  mendacity,  and  has  preferred  rather  to  be  ground  to  pow- 
der like  flint,  than  to  bend  before  violence  or  melt  under  ener- 
vating temptation? 

In  such  emergencies,  and  there  have  been  many,  need  I  ask 
where  stood  Calvin,  Luther,  William  the  Silent,  Knox,  Mel- 
ville, the  Regent  Murra}'-,  Coligni,  Cromwell,  Milton,  Bunyan? 
Well  might  I  adopt  the  language  of  the  great  Apostle,  in  that 
grand  portrayal  of  the  faithful,  and  exclaim,  "And  what  shall 
I  more  say  ?"  for  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  the  long  list  of 
worthies  and  martyrs  who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms, 
wrought  righteousness,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped 
the  edge  of  the  sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made  strong, 
waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens. 
Accept  this  as  a  tribute  to  their  final  perseverance. 

I  can  but  touch  upon  the  doctrine  of  special  Providence, 
another  distinguishing  feature  of  Calvinism.  To  us  it  seems 
to  consist  with  law,  order,  supreme  authority  and  Divine  Gov- 
ernment. The  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  of  the 
New,  abundantly  attest  its  truth. 

Permit  me  to  present  a  single  illustration — many  as  striking 
might  be  given — to  the  thoughtful  student  of  history.  There 
are  few  facts,  perhaps,  which  stand  out  in  bolder  relief  than 


52 

that  of  the  preparation  of  a  language  to  convey  to  mankind 
the  teachings  of  Him  who  spake  as  never  man  spake. 

The  splendid  civilization  of  the  Greeks  had  risen  to  its 
zenith  and  had  waned  before  the  martial  ardor  and  prowess  in 
arms  of  their  great  rivals  and  conquerors,  the  Romans.  The 
empire  which  the  King  of  Macedon  had  founded,  and  which 
his  ambitious  son  had  extended,  had  passed  through  the 
various  stages  of  its  rise,  its  decline  and  its  fall.  For  its  per- 
petuation, vain  were  the  councils,  the  deliberations  and  the 
plans  of  Alexander  and  his  chieftains.  No  human  efforts 
could  establish  a  sole  successor  to  that  illustrious  Prince.  All 
of  these  but  tended  to  the  accomplishment  of  that  which  had 
been  ordained  by  an  invisible  and  superior  power,  by  the 
sovereign  Master  of  kingdoms  and  of  kings,  and  which  had 
been  foretold  300  years  before  by  His  prophet,  Daniel,  "  His 
kingdom  shall  be  broken ;  and  divided  toward  the  four  winds 
of  heaven,  and  not  to  his  posterity." 

But  when  the  ruder  and  more  martial  Eoman  had  wrested 
from  the  grasp  of  his  rival  the  reins  of  empire,  he  found  in 
the  ruins  of  its  greatness  an  invaluable  treasure — as  imperish- 
able as  time  itself — a  language,  cultivated  and  polished  to  be 
the  very  vehicle  of  thought,  and  fitted  for  conveying  to  man- 
kind the  most  important  of  all  truths — a  language  exceeding 
in  its  perfection  and  exactness  of  expression,  any  that  was 
then  known  or  even  now — which  had  embalmed  for  the 
Greeks,  as  it  has  for  us,  almost  all  that  remains  of  the  country 
which  gave  it  birth — whose  heroes  by  virtue  of  its  magic 
power  bore  for  them,  as  they  do  for  us,  all  the  air  and  mien 
and  manner  of  living  men.  Through  this  perfected  medium, 
subject  to  no  mutation  or  change,  have  we  received  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  author  and  founder  of  the  creed  which  we  profess, 
and  most  of  that  creed  itself. 

How  gladly  would  I  linger  upon  these  mountain  tops,  wit- 
nessing, with  you,  the  transfiguration  of  the  glory,  the  mercies 
and  the  providence  of  God. 

How  gladly  would  I  share  and  enjoy  Avith  you  here  a  com- 
mon heritage,  as  we  recount  the  splendid  achievements  of  our 
Calvinistic  ancestry,  and  cry  with  Peter,  "  Master,  let  us  build 
tabernacles  here,  and  here  let  us  abide."  But  unto  us,  as  to 
Peter  and  James  and  John,  the  Master  says,  "  No,  here  is  no  heat, 
no  dust,  no  labor  or  sorrow,  no  conflict,  no  duty  to  be  done."  And 
as  they  did  go  down  with  Him  into  the  valley  of  humiliation 
and  human  contention,  so  too  must  we  go.  As  we  descend, 
however,  let  us  pause  for  a  little  while  upon  a  lesser  height, 
and  there  witness  another  of  the  splendid  triumphs  of  Calvin- 
ism. It  is  the  scene  of  the  Revolution  of  1776,  made  famous 
by  the  noble  deeds,  and  enriched  by  the  nobler  blood  of  the 


63 

descendants  of  the  Pilgrims  of  Plymouth  Rock,  of  the  Hugue- 
nots of  Carolina,  of  tliC  followers  of  Penn  and  of  Roger  "Wil- 
liams, and  more  than  all  by  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians 
scattered  over  all  the  colonies.  Divers  people,  driven  by  a 
common  persecution  from  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  France, 
Holland,  drawn  to  a  common  place  of  refuge  by  the  love  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  their  country's  ensign,  finds  in  their 
diversity  of  origin,  community  of  purpose  and  unity  of  faith, 
its  highest  application  and  significance. 

Their  forefathers  won  for  William  the  battle  of  Boynewater, 
where  the  liberties  of  the  world  trembled .  in  the  scales,  and 
which  Macauly  declares  "  was  the  most  successful  and  the  most 
splendid  in  the  history  of  any  couutry ; "  and  to  which  the 
historian  Hume  ascribes,  "the  whole  freedom  of  the  British 
constitutiou." 

With  universal  accord  the  well-earned  title,  "  the  Father  of 
his  Country,"  has  been  ascribed  to  the  illustrious  Washington, 
not  so  much  for  leading  to  final  victory  the  intrepid  patriots 
whom  he  commanded,  for  there  were  brave  men  before 
Agamemnon — not  so  much  for  wisdom  in  counsel,  for  wise 
men  have  lived  in  all  ages — bat  more  on  account  of  his  mod- 
eration, his  self  abnegation,  and  voluntary  surrender  of  impe- 
rial power. 

To  the  Presbyterians  of  the  Revolution  belongs  the  same 
honor,  in  exactly  equal  measure.  They  fought  for  the  sever- 
ance of  Church  and  State — for  the  supreme  right  of  conscience 
unfettered  by  the  decrees  of  king  or  Parliament,  and  when 
victory  was  achieved,  and  they  had  won  by  their  constancy 
and  valor  the  unquestioned  right  to  establish  a  government, 
they  solemnly  placed  upon  the  records  of  their  Synods  the  self- 
denying  resolve,  refusing  to  appropriate  to  the  Church  that 
power  in  the  State,  which  their  honesty,  their  consistency  and 
their  conscientious  convictions  forbade. 

I  have  thus  endeavored    briefly  and  imperfectly  to  outline 

the  grand  doctrine  of   Calvinism,  not  from  its  beginning,  for 

that  is  shrouded    in  impenetrable  clouds — coexistent  and  co- 

♦  incident  with  the   Word  itself,  which  too  was  in  the  beginninsr, 

which  was  with  God,  and  which  was  God. 

If  I  have  succeeded  in  making  it  appear  as  a  sufficient  cause 
for  human  progress  my  purpose  is  accomplished.  All  matter 
tends  towards  the  centre  of  the  earth  by  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion. We  recognize  the  eflt'ect  and  ascribe  it  to  the  proper 
cause.  The  sun,  the  centre  of  our  system,  is  fixed  as  the  source 
of  light  and  heat.  It  is  needless  in  the  one  case  to  describe  the 
manner  of  the  matter's  fall  or  in  the  other  to  part  the  ravs 
and  tell  of  their  wondrous  effect : — and  even  so  let  it  be  of 
Calvinism. 


54 

The  limit  of  time  assigned  to  me  lias  been  almost  reaclied. 
Indulge  me  but  a  few  moments. 

It  has  befallen  this  generation  to  pass  through  the  throes  of 
fratricidal  strife,  and  our  Zion  has  been  disrupted. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  its  bloody  issue  was,  in  large  part, 
determined  by  the  stern  and  violent  patriotism  of  the  Presby- 
terians of  the  prevailing  section.  It  was  a  terrible  struggle, 
waged  upon  each  side  with  equal  sincerity  in  the  justice  of 
their  cause.  I  have  no  apology  to  make  for  the  part  I  took 
in  it — no  controversy  now  with  any  of  the  victors  by  whose 
prowess,  superior  to  or  even  equal  with  my  own,  we  were  vau- 
qiiished.  A  cause,  whether  just  or  unjust,  which  inspired  a 
whole  people  for  four  years  to  endure  without  murmuring, 
the  privations  and  hardships  of  war — to  bare  their  breasts  to 
the  rain  of  shot  and  shell,  with  conspicuous  courage,  upon  a 
hundred  battlefields — may  fail  to  excite  the  admiration  or  even 
the  approval  of  mankind,  but  it  will  challenge  and  receive 
their  charity  and  respect.  Growing  out  of  that  struggle  is  the 
fact  of  a  divided  Church,  and  the  question  of  organic  union 
confronts  us.  The  solution  of  this  question  depends  upon  our 
own  worthiness.  If  as  Christians  we  indeed  have  Faith,  Hope 
and  Love,  and  as  citizens  courage,  fortitude  and  patience,  that 
Providence  which  has  ever  watched  over  us,  and  which  from 
the  beginning  has  so  often  led  His  people  by  a  way  which 
they  knew  not,  will  not  forsake  us  in  this  emergency. 

But  if  on  account  of  our  unworthiness  it  hath  been  decreed 
not  unto  us — not  unto  us,  shall  be  the  glory  of  its  accomplish- 
ment :  if  by  reason  of  our  sins  and  blood  guiltiness  the  privi- 
lege of  building  the  splendid  temple  of  union  be  denied  to  us, 
still  let  us  hope  and  pray,  that  those  who  are  to  come  after  us, 
our  children  and  our  children's  children,  purified  by  a  more 
perfect  love,  and  freed  from  the  prejudices  and  the  passions, 
which  do  so  easily  beset  us,  shall  not  only  behold,  as  has  been 
permitted  to  us  from  some  Pisgah's  height,  but  may  they  go 
in  and  possess  to  its  utmost  boundaries,  that  land  of  promise — 
a  grand,  puissant,  militant,  united  Church,  from  which,  by 
reason  of  our  sins,  we  have  been  so  justly  excluded. 


PRESBYTERIANISM  AND  REPUBLICAN 
GOVERNMENT. 


By  Hon.  Samuel  J.  McMillan, 
Si.  Paul,  Minn. 


THE  time  for  a  change  had  come,  the  revival  of  letters 
had  extended  knowledge  and  quickened  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  people ;  the  nations  were  restive  under  the 
domination  of  the  Church  which  had  so  long  ruled  them,  and 
the  hearts  of  the  people  sighed  for  deliverance  from  the  spir- 
itual and  intellectual  thralldom  under  which  they  had  so  long 
been  held.  God's  time  had  come,  the  Reformation  was  accom- 
plished in  which  the  infallibility  of  the  Church  was  over- 
thrown and  the  right  of  private  judgment  was  established,  the 
Bible  accepted  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice, and  j  ustification  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  the  way  of  sal- 
vation. 

The  principles  involved  in  the  Reformation  were  both  reli- 
gious and  ecclesiastical;  they  affected  both  the  faith  of  the 
Church  and  its  government.  Upon  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  former  Protestant  Europe  was  united;  as  to  the  latter 
the  character  and  extent  of  the  changes  and  modifications 
varied  in  the  different  nations  engaged  in  the  Reformation, 
some  embracing  Episcopacy,  others  Presbyterianism,  others 
the  Consistorial  and  still  others  Congregationalism  or  Inde- 
pendency. 

Presbyterianism  is  so  designated  because  it  is  a  Church  gov- 
ernment by  presbyters.  As  a  system  of  Church  government, 
however,  it  embracas  much  more  than  the  mere  autonomy  of 
the  Church.  As  a  formulated  and  distinct  system  of  ecclesias- 
tical government  it  is  a  result  of  the  Reformation,  adopted  ])ar- 
tially  by  Zwingle  in  the  Church  at  Zurich,  but  first  fully 
matured  and  developed  in  theory  by  Calvin  in  the  free  city  of 
Geneva.     It  involves  the  following  principles: 

"First.  The  Church  of  Christ  is  under  the  special  guidance 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  we  are  to  look  to  the  promise  of  the 
Saviour  for  the  preservation  of  her  truth  and  purity. 


56 

"  Second.  The  "Word  of  God  is  tlie  only  infallible  rule  of  faith 
and  practice. 

"  Third.  The  permanent  officers  of  a  Church  are  presbyters 
and  deacons. 

"  Fourth.  To  deacons  are  committed  the  care  of  the  funds 
and  of  the  poor. 

"  Fifth.  To  presbyters  belong  government  and  instruction. 

"Sixth.  Presbyters  are  divided  into,  first,  pastors  and 
teachers,  whose  chief  work  is  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  per- 
form pastoral  labor  and  administer  the  ordinances;  second, 
lay  elders,  whose  business  it  is,  in  conjunction  with  the  pastors, 
to  attend  to  discipline  and  order. 

"  Seventh.  The  election  of  all  those  officers  belong  to  the 
Church  itself.  The  pastors  ordain  only  those  whom  the  people 
choose  for  the  purpose,  the  function  of  the  Church  in  this 
behalf  being  to  decide  who  in  the  judgment  of  Charity  are 
called  of  God  to  office,  no  one  being  qualified  without  sach  call 
both  of  God  and  the  people. 

"Eighth.  To  secure  harmony  of  faith  and  practice  the 
churches  meet  in  Synods  or  Councils  by  their  pastors  and 
elders,  the  latter  being  the  representatives  of  the  people. 

"Ninth.  The  Church  in  all  spiritual  matters  is  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  the  State  and  responsible  to  Christ  alone." 

This  system  of  ecclesiastical  government  was  avowedly  a 
return  to  the  simplicity  of  the  primitive  Church ;  it  was  the 
reformation  and  reconstruction  of  the  Church  upon  the  prin- 
ciples of  God's  Word  in  harmony  with  and  designed  to  advance 
and  carry  forward  Christ's  kingdom  in  its  purified  and  re- 
newed life  and  power.  It  rejects  the  doctrine  that  the  Church 
is  infallible,  and  declares  that  the  Word  of  God  is  the  only 
infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  It  denies  that  the 
hierarchy,  united  in  Council  or  otherwise,  separates  God  from 
the  believer ;  it  declares  the  presence  of  God  in  His  Church  to 
guide  her  and  preserve  her  truth  and  purity ;  it  thus  brings 
believers  individually  into  personal  communion  with  their 
Heavenly  Father  to  guide,  enlighten,  sanctify  and  bless  them. 
It  involves  the  right  of  private  judgment,  the  liberty  of  con- 
science and  personal  responsibility. 

"  It  is  a  form  of  government  strong  enough  to  resist  the  ten- 
dency to  anarchy  on  one  side  and  priestly  domination  on  the 
other."  It  invests  the  Church  under  Christ  with  original 
jurisdiction.  The  power  goes  up  from  the  Church  to  her 
officers,  and  not  from  a  consecrated  and  necessarily  indepen- 
dent priesthood  to  the  people.  It  gives  to  the  Church  power 
to  determine  who  shall  enter  into  fellowship  Avith  her;  to  de- 
cide upon  articles  of  faith  according  to  God's  Word,  and  to 
establish  the  laws  according  to  which  she  shall  be  governed. 


57 

It  provides  for  the  regular  exercise  of  this  power  by  the 
institution  of  a  strictly  representative  government,  and  de- 
volves the  election  of  all  ecclesiastical  ofl&cers  upon  the  pri- 
vate members  of  the  Church. 

It  provides  lor  all  the  great  objects  to  attain  which  officers 
are  necessary.  It  designates  tho>e  who  shall  preach  the  Gos- 
pel, and  instruct  the  Church  and  administer  the  ordinances, 
and  sets  apart  to  their  work  those  whom  the  Church  has  ap- 
pointed. It  designates  those  who  shall  administer  discipline 
and  care  for  the  purity,  order  and  peace  of  the  House  of  God. 
It  specifies  those  who  shall  act  as  stewards  of  the  congrega- 
tion, almoners  of  their  bounty,  charged  with  the  support  of 
the  ministry  and  of  the  poor. 

It  involves  the  essential  parity  of  the  clergy  in  opposition 
to  a  divinely  constituted  prelacy  or  hierarchy,  and  holds  that 
"  all  ministers  are  equally  bishops  and  presbyters,  on  an  equal- 
ity in  respect  to  government." 

"  It  constitutes  the  Church  independent  of  the  State  in  all 
ecclesiastical  and  spiritual  things."  It  denies  all  power  of  the 
State  "  to  determine  who  shall  be  entitled  to  church  fellow- 
ship, who  shall  fill  church  offices,  what  shall  be  the  faith  of 
the  Church,  or  who  shall  decide  upon  her  confessions ;  or  to 
interfere  in  any  manner  or  to  any  extent  in  her  spiritual 
aft'airs."  Truly,  "  the  announcement  of  these  principles  was 
an  era  in  the  Church  and  in  the  world."  It  was  the  announce- 
ment of  the  inherent  right  of  every  man  to  private  judg- 
ment and  liberty  of  conscience,  and  it  was  the  declaration  of  the 
freedom  of  the  Church  from  ecclesiastical  tyranny  and  secular 
interference.  It  was  meet  that  these  immortal  truths  should 
come  from  the  liberty-loving  land  of  Switzerland,  whose  moun- 
tains pierce  the  vapors  and  clouds  of  earth,  and  bathe  their 
crowns  in  the  glorious  sunlight  of  Heaven;  and  from  the  free 
city  of  Geneva.  "  These  ideas,"  says  Ranke,  "  are  the  same 
on  which  the  French,  Scotch  and  American  Churches  were 
afterwards  founded,  and,  indeed,  on  which  the  existence  and 
development  of  North  America  may  be  said  to  rest.  Their 
historical  importance  is  beyond  all  calculation."  ("  Hist,  of 
Reformation.")  The  glorious  truths  of  the  Reformation,  pro- 
claimed and  embraced  in  Germany,  had  extended  to  Switzer- 
land, penetrated  France  and  were  soon  carried  to  England  and 
Scotland;  and,  wherever  they  were  heard,  were  received  by 
multitudes  of  the  people  with  joy  and  gladness.  Immedi- 
ately the  adherents  of  the  reformed  faith  were  visited  with 
relentless  persecution  hv  torture,  imprisonment  and  death. 
Tyndale  of  England,  Knox  and  Melville  of  Scotland,  and 
thousands  of  persons,  including  many  learned  and  pious  minis- 
ters, who  had  abandoned  and  given  up  the  errors  and  supersti- 


58 

tions  of  the  Roman  Cliurch  and  embraced  tho  principles  of  tlie 
Reformation,  fled  from  their  homes  and  country  to  escape  the 
persecutor's  vengeance,  or  suft'ered  banishment  for  conscience's 
sake.  Many  of  them  found  refuge  in  Geneva  and  were  cor- 
dially welcomed  by  their  brethren  of  the  same  faith,  enjoyed 
the  counsels  and  heard  the  words  of  wisdom  of  the  great 
Geneva  doctor,  participated  in  the  simple  worship  and  wit- 
nessed the  republican  torm  of  Church  government  in  opera- 
tion there. 

When  God  opened  the  way  for  them  to  return  to  their 
country  and  their  homes,  they  gave  themselves,  with  increased 
zeal  and  renewed  devotion,  to  the  cause  of  the  Reformation. 
In  France,  the  reformed  laith  was  gladly  received  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  Huguenot  Church,  under  the  Presbyterian  system, 
amid  persecution  and  trial  from  the  tyrannical  throne  and 
hierarchy  of  the  government,  made  rapid  progress,  until  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  opened  the  floodgates  of 
wrath,  and  the  inhuman  cruelty  and  Satanic  malignity  of  the 
persecutors  spread  slaughter  and  death  throughout  tbe  Church 
and  scattered  the  fleeing  remnant  of  the  devoted  followers  of 
Christ  through  other  lands. 

The  return  of  Knox  to  Scotland  was  a  great  accession  to 
the  cause  of  the  Reformers,  and  under  his  bold,  faithful  and 
intrepid  leadership,  succeeded  by  tbe  learned  and  ro  less  cou- 
rageous Melville,  Presbyteriani^m  was  accepted  by  tbe  peo])le 
and  established  as  the  faith  of  the  nation,  in  opposition  to  the 
power  and  eflbrts  of  the  Scottish  throne. 

In  England,  the  first  departure  by  the  crown  from  the  old 
religion  was  by  Henry  VIII,  who,  in  his  quarrel  with  the 
Pope,  constituted  an  English  Church,  differing  from  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  on  the  point  of  supremacy,  and  on  that 
point  alone,  investing  in  the  king  all  the  power  of  tbe  Pope, 
and  during  his  reign  the  dependents  on  the  crown  assented  to 
his  blasphemous  assumption.  Tbe  reformed  faith,  however, 
extended  among  the  people,  and  the  claim  of  the  crown  to 
ecclesiastical  supremacy,  as  made  by  Henry,  was  modified 
under  Edward  and  Elizabeth.  The  British  Reformation 
early  divided  itself  into  two  antagonistic  parties — the  ecclesi- 
astical, or  conservative  party,  and  the  popular,  or  progressive 
party.  The  one  would  keep  as  near  to  Rome  as  possible ;  the 
other  sought  close  conformity  with  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
the  Continent  and  a  complete  reformation."  These  were 
known  as  Puritans,  and  embraced  the  Presbyterians  and  all 
Non-conformists. 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  James  I  to  the  throne  the  per- 
secutions in  England  and  Scotland  drove  many  Puritans  and 


59 

Presbyterians  to  Ireland,  and  the  Irish  Church  was  organized 
under  a  confession,  of  its  own. 

The  opening  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  the  accession 
of  James  I  to  the  throne  marks  the  commencement  of  an  era 
in  the  history  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  which  continued 
until  nearly  the  close  of  the  century,  involving  the  integrity 
of  h  er  constitution  and  the  civil  and  religious  liberty  of  her 
people. 

Increased  knowledge  and  quickened  thought  had  awakened 
a  republican  sentiment  both  in  Parliament  and  among  the 
people,  yet  the  king  in  his  claims  of  authority  and  power  for 
the  throne  exceeded  all  that  had  ever  been  made  by  any  of 
his  predecessors. 

It  was  claimed  by  the  king  and  his  adherents  both  in  Church 
and  State  that  the  "  Supreme  Being  regarded  hereditary  mon- 
archy, as  opposed  to  other  forms  of  government,  with  peculiar 
favor;  that  the  rale  of  succession  in  order  of  primogeniture 
was  a  divine  institution  anterior  to  the  Christian  and  even  to 
the  Mosaic  dispensation ;  that  no  human  power,  not  even  that 
of  the  Legislature,  no  length  of  adverse  possession,  though  it 
extended  to  ten  centuries,  could  deprive  the  legitimate  prince 
of  his  rights;  that  his  authority  was  necessarily  always  des- 
potic; that  the  laws  by  which,  in  England  and  in  other  coun- 
tries, the  prerogative  was  limited  were  to  be  regarded  merely 
as  concessions  which  the  sovereign  had  freely  made  and  might 
at  his  pleasure  resume,  and  that  any  treaty  into  which  a  king 
might  enter  with  his  people  was  merely  a  declaration  of  his 
present  intention,  and  not  a  contract  of  which  the  perform- 
ance could  be  demanded."     (Macaulaj'-,  "  Hist.,"  Vol.  i,  p.  55.) 

And  for  the  Church  of  England,  of  which  the  king  was  the 
head,  it  was  claimed  that  "the  episcopal  office  was  essential  to 
the  welfare  of  a  Christian  society  and  to  the  efficacy  of  the 
most  solemn  ordinances  of  religion.  To  that  office  belonged 
certain  high  and  sacred  privileges,  which  no  human  power 
could  give  or  take  away.  A  Church  might  as  well  be  without 
the  doctrine  of  a  Trinity  or  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation 
as  without  the  apostolical  orders,  and  the  Church  of  Pome, 
which  in  the  midst  of  all  her  corruptions  had  returned  the 
apostolical  orders,  was  nearer  to  primitive  purity  than  those  re- 
formed societies  which  had  rashly  set  up  in  opposition  to  the 
divine   model  a  system    invented  by  men."  (/^.,  pp.  59,  60.) 

The  issue  was  made  up.  Absolutism  in  the  throne  or  con- 
stitutional government,  with  executive  control  by  the  Par- 
liament and  the  civil  and  religious  liberty  of  the  people. 
The  mighty  conflict,  which  was  to  continue  to  the  end  of  the 
dynasty  of  the  house   of  Stuart,  was   not   only   vital   to  the 


60 

Britisli  government,  but  its  consequences  and  results  were  to 
extend  beyond  the  seas  and  bless  the  Western  world. 

James,  too  weak  and  cowardly  to  enforce  his  claims,  left  to 
his  sucoessor,  Charles  I,  the  work  of  continuing  the  conflict. 
Charles  I  succeeded  to  the  throne.  The  new  king,  with  the 
aid  of  the  cruel  and  imperious  Wentworth,  and  the  proud, 
inhuman  and  relentless  Laud,  entered  upon  the  conflict  and 
undertook  to  make  Charles  a  monarch  as  absolute  as  any  on 
the  Continent ;  to  put  the  State  and  the  personal  liberty  of 
the  whole  people  at  the  disposal  of  the  crown ;  to  deprive 
the  courts  of  law  of  all  independent  authority,  even  in  ordi- 
nary questions  of  civil  right  between  man  and  man,  and  to 
punish  with  merciless  rigor  all  who  murmured  at  the  acts  of 
the  government  or  who  applied,  even  in  the  most  decent  and 
regular  manner,  to  any  tribunal  for  relief  against  those  acts. 
(Macaulay,  "  Hist.,"  p.  68.) 

The  work  of  oppression  and  tyranny  went  rapidly  forward. 
The  Star  Chamber  and  the  High  Commission,  the  former  a 
political  and  the  latter  a  religious  inquisition,  with  their 
usurped  power,  "  guided  chiefly  by  the  violent  spirit  of  the 
primate,  and  freed  from  the  control  of  the  Parliament,  dis- 
played a  rapacit}'-,  a  violence,  a  malignant  energy  which  had 
been  unknown  to  any  former  age,"  and  the  Council  of  York, 
under  Wentworth,  created  by  a  pure  act  of  usurpation,  had 
made  the  great  charter  a  dead  letter  to  the  north  of  the  Trent. 
(76.,  p.  79,  80).  The  judges  of  the  common  law  were  scandal- 
ously obsequious  to  the  king,  and  the  tribunals  of  justice 
afforded  no  protection  to  the  subjects  against  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  tyranny  of  that  period.     {Ih.j 

The  people  began  to  be  discouraged  and  depressed,  and  to 
look  to  America  as  a  place  of  refuge  from  the  tyranny  under 
which  they  suffered.  Some  Puritans  departed  from  their 
native  land  and  found  a  home  on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts 
Bay.  The  cause  of  liberty  was  growing  desperate  if  not  hope- 
less. At  this  crisis  the  king  and  his  archbishop,  Laud,  in  the 
wanton  exercise  of  tyrannical  power,  determined  the  last  of  a 
long  series  of  oppressions  by  the  crown,  to  impose  the  liturgy 
of  the  Church  of  England  upon  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Scotland.  The  imposition  of  the  liturgy  was  resisted  by  the 
Scottish  people.  The  king  persisting  in  his  determination, 
negotiations  ensued,  the  result  of  which  was  that  a  General 
Assembly,  composed  of  ministers  and  lay  commissioners  elected 
by  the  Presbyteries,  convened  at  Glasgow  and  was  duly  consti- 
tuted. Episcopacy,  the  High  Commission,  tiie  Articles  of 
Perth,  the  canons  and  tlie  liturgy  were  abolished  and  declared 
unlawful,  and  the  whole  fa])ric  which  James  and  Charles  in  a 
long  course  of  years  had  been  rearing  with  so  much  care  and 


61 

policy  fell  at  once  to  the  ground.  Thus  "  The  old  Presbyter- 
ian principle,  which,"  says  Hume,  "had  been  zealously  adopted 
at  the  Reformation,  that  the  Church  in  all  spiritual  matters  is 
entirely  independent  of  the  State  and  responsible  to  Christ 
alone,  was  vindicated  against  the  tyranny  of  the  commissioners 
by  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland  in  their  highest  representa- 
tive assembly.  And  in  defense  of  their  right  of  religious  lib- 
erty, held  sacred  and  dearer  than  their  lives  by  the  Presbyter- 
ians of  Scotland,  they  went  forth  to  the  battle-field  to  resist 
the  armed  forces  of  the  king  and  carried  their  triumphant 
banner  across  the  Tweed  and  the  Tyne.  The  tyrant  shrank 
before  the  enthusiastic  hosts  of  liberty,  and  fearing  further  to 
exercise  his  tyrannical  and  unconstitational  power  to  replenish 
his  exhausted  treasury  to  carry  on  the  war,  convoked  the 
British  Parliament  to  dissolve  it  again  because  not  subservient 
to  the  royal  will.  But  the  advancing  hosts  of  freedom  struck 
terror  to  the  soul  of  Charles,  and  the  representatives  of  the 
people  were  again  convoked.  F(^  more  than  eleven  years  no 
Parliament  had  been  convoked,  and  during  all  that  time  the 
people  had  been  suffering  under  the  tyranny  and  oppression  of 
the  king  in  his  lawless  and  unconstitutional  administration  of 
the  government.  The  long  Parliament,  "which,"  says 
Macaulay,  "in  spite  of  many  errors  and  disasters  is  justly  enti- 
tled to  the  reverence  and  gratitude  of  all  who  in  any  part  of 
the  world  enjoy  the  blessings  of  constitutional  government," 
met  in  NovemlDer,  IBiO.  The  Star  Chamber,  the  High  Com- 
mission and  the  Council  of  York  were  abolished,  and  men  who 
after  suffering  cruel  mutilations  had  been  confined  in  remote 
dnngeoDs  regained  their  liberty.  Sessions  of  Parliament  at 
intervals  not  greater  than  three  years  each  were  guaranteed 
and  many  constitutional  safeguards  of  the  people  were 
restored.  On  the  6th  of  December,  1648,  the  Presbyterian 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons  were  expelled  to  the  num- 
ber of  140.  The  Commonwealth  having  succeeded  the  Par- 
liamentary government  was  overthrown,  and  the  Presbyter- 
ians preferring  a  constitutional  government  to  a  military 
despotism  the  re^^toration  was  accomplished.  No  sooner  was 
Charles  II  enthroned  than  the  contest  for  absolutism  com- 
menced, in  which  the  perfidious  king  was  abetted  by  a  no 
less  faithless  hierarchy  and  truculent  Parliament.  The  con- 
flict was  renewed  by  James  II  with  even  greater  virulence. 
Under  all  the  tyranny,  oppression  and  cruel  persecutions, 
which  the  Presbyterians  in  England,  Ireland  and  Scotland 
suffered  during  all  these  reigns,  they  were  true  to  their  faith 
in  God  and  their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  religious  liberty. 
Drumclog,  Both  well  Bridge  and  Derry  are  their  declarations 
that  "  resistance  to  tyrants  is  obedience  to  God."     The  final 


62 

conflict  between  absolutism  and  constitutional  government 
came,  and  the  Presbyterians  were  the  efficient  force  in  the 
army  which  overthrew  the  tyrant  James  II,  placed  William 
and  Mary  on  the  throne,  and  secured  to  the  nation  a  constitu- 
tional government,  which  panoplies  the  citizen  with  law  and 
protects  the  people  against  the  throne,  and  made  it  possible 
that  Great  Britain  should  be  what  she  is  to-day. 

But  God  had  yet  greater  things  toaccomphsh  for  His  Church 
and  for  mankind.  This  western  world  was  to  be  the  place 
of  triumph  for  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

The  primary  object  of  the  early  colonists  was  not  civil  do- 
minion, but  religious  libert}^  They  fled  from  persecution  in 
their  own  lands  that  here  they  might  worship  God  according 
to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences.  The  persecutions 
which  drove  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans  from  their  native 
land  to  the  inhospitable  shores  of  this  western  wilderness  did 
not  cease  with  their  departure,  but  continued  in  different  forms 
and  with  different  degrees  ©f  intensity  during  the  period  of 
our  colonial  existence. 

The  emigration  of  Presbyterians  which  commenced  in  the 
early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  increased  after  the 
revolution  of  1688,  and  was  still  further  augmented  after  the 
opening  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  embraced  Puritans, 
Covenanters,  Huguenots,  Scotch,  Scotch-Irish  and  German  ref- 
ugees from  the  Palatinate.  The  first  step  toward  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  taken  by  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Presbytery  at  Freehold,  N.  J.,  in  1705,  or  1706, 
and  the  Church  rapidly  increased  in  numbers  and  influence, 
and  extended  its  field  of  operations  so  that  its  churches  out- 
side of  New  England  were  planted  in  the  colonies  of  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia and  both  the  Carolinas.  The  colonies  of  New  York, 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  at  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  were  overwhelmingly  Presbyterian.  (Briggs,  p.  316.) 
And  in  1775  the  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  com- 
bined had  the  ecclesiastical  control  of  the  American  colo- 
nies; upon  their  joint  action  the  destinies  of  America  de- 
pended.    {/&.,  3-13.) 

The  revolution  of  1688  had  secured  for  the  people  of  Eng- 
land their  constitutional  rights,  but  the  people  of  the  American 
colonies  were  not  permitted  to  share  its  beneficent  results. 
The  rights  of  Englishmen  were  denied  to  the  colonists,  and 
the  abuses  and  usurpation  of  power  which  were  subsequently 
arrayed  in  the  Declaration  of  Indei)endence  were  inflicted 
upon  the  Americans.  The  same  questions  of  absolutism  of 
the  throne,  the  divine  right  of  kings,  unlimited  submission  of 
the  suljjects,  and  other  and  greater  fundamental  principles  of 


63 

government  and  civil  and  religious  liberty  were  here  to  be  dis- 
cussed, fought  out  and  established. 

The  history  of  Presbyterianism  is  a  record  of  the  propagation 
and  defense  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Its  birth})lace  was 
a  rep'aolic.  Its  vital  principle  is  the  investiture  of  power  in 
the  people,  and  self-government  by  constitutional  representa- 
tion. In  the  very  dawn  of  its  existence  in  Scotland,  its  heroic 
leader,  John  Knox,  proclaimed  the  "creed  of  republics  in  its 
first  hard  form,"  in  his  memorable  reply  to  Queen  Mary,  "  If 
princes  exceed  their  bound,  madam,  no  doubt  they  may  be  re- 
sisted even  by  power," 

When  the  faithless  tyrant  Charles  II  attempted  by  the 
power  of  the  sword  to  impose  upon  the  Scottish  Church  a  ser- 
vice which  their  consciences  repelled,  after  every  effort  at  per- 
suasion failed,  they  went  forth  to  battle  under  their  banner 
for  Christ's  Grown  and  Covenant^''  and  triumphed  in  the  cause 
of  God  and  liberty.  And  when  the  final  issue  came,  in  which 
the  right  of  the  British  people  was  involved,  the  Presbyte- 
rians of  Scotland  and  Ireland  rallied  in  the  cause  of  liberty 
and  secured  for  the  nation  a  constitutional  government.  With 
such  a  history,  and  with  such  a  providential  training,  it  is 
not  strange  that  Presbyterians  were  in  the  vanguard  of  the 
colony  in  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

The  Church  of  England  was  the  established  Church  in 
New  York,  Maryland,  Virginia  and  both  the  Carolinas,  and 
the  di&senters  were  made  to  feel  its  power.  The  Church  of 
England  in  the  colonies  was  not  strong  in  numbers,  wealth  or 
influence.  "But  the  people  of  America  knew  that  a  vast 
power  was  behind  this  handful  of  ministers  and  people  which 
might  be  used  in  America  as  it  had  been  used  in  England,  Ire- 
land and  Scotland  to  constrain  the  consciences  of  the  people  to 
religious  conformity." 

"  The  non-Episcopal  denominations,  therefore,  in  this  country, 
had  abundant  cause  for  alarm.  From  South  Carolina  to  New 
Hampshire  they  saw  the  power  and  influence  of  the  govern- 
ment exerted  to  give  ascendency  to  the  English  Church. 
This  object  was  constantly,  though  cautiously,  pursued  *  *  *. 
Here,  as  in  the  contest  about  taxation,  it  was  not  the  pressure 
of  the  particular  act  of  injury  or  indignity  that  produced  the 
dissatisfaction,  but  the  power  that  was  claimed.  The  assump- 
tion was  the  same  in  both  cases,  viz.,  that  America  was  part 
of  the  nation  of  England;  that  the  power  of  the  king  and 
Parliament  was  here,  what  it  was  there,  hence  on  the  one  hand 
the  inference  that  the  British  Parliament  could  here  levy  what 
taxes  they  pleased,  and  on  the  other,  that  the  king's  su- 
premacy in  ecclesiastical  matters  extended  to  the  colonies." 

In  the  colonies  in  which  the  Anglican  Church  had  been 


64 

establislied  tlie  non-Episcopal  Churches  were  placed  under  seri- 
ous disabilities  and  restraints,  invidious  and  odious  discrimina- 
tions were  made  against  them,  and  hardens  of  taxation 
imposed  upon  them,  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  Established 
Church. 

The  Presbyterians  had  been  especially  annoyed  in  their  ear- 
lier days  when  struggling  for  existence  as  a  religious  denomi- 
nation, both  in  New  York  and  Virginia,  by  the  intolerance  of 
the  Church  of  England.  They  associated  the  State  as  the 
immediate  power  behind  the  persecution,  though  the  latter,  as 
it  was  well  known,  was  frequently  urged  to  this  course  of  ac- 
tion by  the  clergy  of  tlie  establishment.  For  many  years, 
says  a  chronicler  of  the  times,  in  New  York,  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia and  South  Carolina,  the  growth  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  was  checked  by  persecution  and  intolerance."  ("  The 
Presbytery  of  Hanover,"  p.  9.) 

In  New  York  the  struggle  between  Presbyterians  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  Established  Church  and  Tory  Governor  on 
the  other  hand  was  intense,  and  the  persecuting  arm  of  the 
civil  power  was  invoked.  In  1706  Francis  Makemie  and  John 
Hampton,  Presbyterian  ministers,  en  route  to  Boston,  were 
invited  by  the  Puritans  in  New  York  to  preach  to  them,  but 
were  prohibited  by  the  Governor,  Cornbury,  from  doing  so. 
Thereupon  Makemie  preached  in  a  private  house  on  Pearl 
street,  January  20th.  On  the  same  day  Hampton  preached 
at  Newton,  L.  I.  On  the  following  Tuesday  both  were  ar- 
rested on  a  warrant  from  Governor  Cornbury  on  the  ground 
that  they  had  preached  without  his  permission.  They  were 
detained  till  March  1st,  when  they  were  brought  before  the 
Supreme  Court  upon  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  The  charge 
against  Hampton  was  not  pressed,  but  Makemie  was  released 
on  bail  to  appear  for  trial  June  3d.  Makemie  returned  to 
New  York  and  upon  his  trial  was  acquitted  on  the  ground  that 
he  had  complied  with  the  Toleration  Act  and  had  acted  within 
his  rights  as  a  Puritan  minister.  He  produced  his  license  to 
preach  under  the  Toleration  Act  in  Barbadoes,  and  this  was 
recognized  as  valid  throughout  the  Queen's  dominions,  but, 
notwithstanding  his  acquittal,  Makemie  was  compelled  to  pay 
the  costs  of  the  prosecution  as  well  as  the  defense,  amounting 
to  the  large  sum  of  £88,  7s.  6d.  ("  Am.  Presbyterianism," 
Briggs,  p.  152.) 

The  tyranny,  oppression  and  injustice  exercised  by  the  civil 
power  in  behalf  of  the  Established  Church  in  the  colony 
where  a  religious  establishment  existed,  and  the  entire  history 
of  the  Church  in  connection  with  the  State,  convinced  the 
Presbyterians  of  America  that  the  union  of  the  Cliurch  and 
State  as  a  political  question  was  wrong,  and  they  were  early 


65 

enlisted  in  favor  of  entire  freedom  of  worship.  "  During  the 
quarter  of  a  century  immediately  preceding  the  revolution  a 
discussion  of  the  whole  subject  of  religious  rights,  important 
for  its  effects  upon  the  public  mind,  as  well  as  for  the  ability 
displayed  in  its  prosecution,  was  conducted  through  the  public 
press  by  the  leading  men  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New 
York.  Three  of  these  men  were  eminent  lawyers,  a  fourth 
was  the  young  pastor  of  the  Wall  Street  Church,  Alexander 
Cummings,  whose  spirited  appeals  and  cogent  arguments  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  the  force  and  weight  of  the  pamphlet 
and  newspaper  publications  of  the  day.  But  the  names  of  his 
parishioners,  Wm.  Smith,  Wm.  Livingston,  John  Morin  Scott, 
are  better  known  in  connection  with  this  debate.  The  battle 
for  religious  liberty  was  well  fought  at  a  time  when  the  great 
struggle  for  civil  freedom  was  beginning  by  the  Presbyterian 
lawyers  of  New  York,  and  not  only  for  their  own  rehgious 
communion,  but  equally  for  other  Christian  Churches."  ("  Am. 
Pres.,"  Briggs,  quoting  from  C.  W.  Baird,  "  Civil  Status  of  the 
Presbyterians  in  the  Province  of  New  York.") 

In  Virginia,  where  alone  there  was  an  arduous  struggle  in 
the  Legislature,  says  Bancroft,  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover 
demanded  the  disestablishment  of  the  Anglican  Church  and 
the  civil  equality  of  every  denomination.  It  was  supported  by 
the  voices  of  Baptists  and  Quakers  and  all  the  sects  that  had 
sprang  from  the  people,  and  after  a  contest  of  eight  weeks  the 
measure  was  carried  by  the  activity  of  Jefferson  in  an  Assem- 
bly of  which  the  majority  were  Protestant  Episcopalians. 

Nor  was  this  demand  by  Presbyterians  for  equality  confined 
to  Virginia,  where  they  were  in  a  minority.  It  was  from 
Witherspoon,  of  New  Jersey,  that  Madison  imbibed  the  lesson 
of  perfect  freedom  in  matters  of  conscience.  When  the  Con- 
stitution of  that  State  was  framed  by  a  convention  composed 
chiefly  of  Presbyterians  they  established  perfect  liberty  of 
conscience,  without  the  blemish  of  a  test.  (Bancroft's  "  Hist.  U. 
S.,"  5th  vol,  p.  123.) 

The  American  colonies  did  not  rashly  enter  into  the  war  of 
American  independence.  Separation  from  Great  Britain  was 
not  originally  desired.  Colonial  assemblies  in  the  autumn  of 
1775  disavowed  the  desire  for  independence.  The  Congress 
of  delegates  that  met  on  the  5th  of  September,  1774,  at  Car- 
penter's Uall,  Philadelphia,  it  distinctly  appears,  sought  to 
obtain  a  redress  of  grievances  and  not  the  establishment  of  a 
separate  government.  Its  language  is,  "  You  have  been  told 
that  we  are  impatient  of  government  and  desire  inde})endence. 
These  are  calumnies.  Permit  us  to  be  free  as  yourselves,  and 
we  shall  ever  esteem  a  union  with  you  to  beour  greatest  glory 
and  our  greatest  happiness."     And  the  Declaration  itself  is  a 


66 

confident  appeal  to  God  and  tlie  world  for  the  justice  of  the 
cause  of  iudependence.  The  Presbyterians  throughout  the 
colonies  were  the  strongest  and  most  constant  friends  of  inde- 
pendence. The  Scotch-Irish  on  the  frontiers  of  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  in  the  Presbyteries  of  Hanover  and  Orange, 
were  the  first  to  advance  to  a  declaration  of  independence  from 
the  mother  country.  The  struggles  against  the  government 
of  Virginia  for  their  religious  rites  had  prepared  them  for  this 
issue.  They  met  in  council  at  Abingdon,  January  20,  1775, 
and  prepared  an  address  to  the  delegates  of  Virginia,  in  which 
they  said,  "We  explored  our  uncultivated  wilderness,  border- 
ing on  many  nations  of  savages,  and  surrounded  by  mountains 
almost  inaccessible  to  any  but  the  savages,  but  even  to  these 
remote  regions  the  hand  of  power  hath  pursued  us  to  strip  us 
of  that  liberty  and  property  with  which  God,  Nature  and  the 
rights  of  humanity  have  vested  us.  We  are  willing  to  con- 
tribute all  in  our  power  if  applied  to  constitutionally,  but  can- 
not think  of  submitting  our  liberty  or  property  to  a  venal 
British  Parliament  or  a  corrupt  ministry.  We  are  deliberately 
and  resolutely  determined  never  to  surrender  any  of  our  ines- 
timable privileges  to  any  power  upon  earth  but  at  the  expense 
of  our  lives.  These  are  our  real  though  unpolished  sentiments 
of  liberty  and  loyalty,  and  in  them  we  are  resolved  to  live  and 
die."     ("  Am.  Pres.,"  Briggs,  p.  347.) 

The  resolutions  known  as  the  Mecklenburg  declaration  were 
adopted  by  the  Scotch -Irish  Presbyterians  of  North  Caro- 
lina, in  convention  at  Charlotte,  May  20,  1775.  "  This  high- 
spirited  people  had  carefully  watched  the  progress  of  the  con- 
troversy between  the  colonies  and  Great  Britain,  and  when  in 
May,  1775,  they  received  news  of  the  address  that  had  been 
presented  to  the  king  by  Parliament,  declaring  the  American 
colonies  to  be  in  actual  rebellion,  they  concluded  that  the 
time  for  action  had  arrived,  and  accordingly  proceeded  to  re- 
nounce their  allegiance  to  the  crown.  The  convention  was 
addressed  by  Rev.  Hezekiah  James  Balch,  a  Presbyterian 
clergyman,  and  others.  Among  other  resolutions,  the  follow- 
ing was  adopted : 

^^  Besolved,  That  we  do  hereby  declare  ourselves  a  free  and 
independent  people.  Are  and  of  right  ought  to  be  a  sovereign 
and  self-governing  association,  under  the  control  of  no  power 
other  than  that  of  oar  God  and  the  general  government  of 
the  Congress.  To  the  maintenance  of  which  independence 
we  solemnly  pledge  to  each  other  our  mutual  coojieration,  our 
lives^  our  fortunes  and  our  most  sacred  honor^  (''  Scottish  and 
Irish  Seeds  in  American  Soil,"  Craighead,  p.  328.) 

The  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  met  in  Phila- 
delphia on  the  20th  of  May,  1775.    "  The  bloody  conflict  had 


67 

taken  place  at  Lexington  but  a  few  weeks  before,  and  created 
great  excitement  throughout  the  land.  The  General  Con- 
gress was  also  in  session  at  Philadelphia,  consulting  concern- 
inc  the  crisis  which  had  been  precipitated  upon  the  colonies. 
At  this  important  period  the  Synod  gave  expression  to  its 
deep  sympathy  for  the  cause  of  freedom  and  its  religious  con- 
viction respecting  the  rights  of  the  people  in  a  pastoral  letter 
issued  to  the  Presbyterians  within  its  bounds.  The  letter  ex- 
horts Presbyterians,  to  whom  it  is  addressed,  not  to  suifer  op- 
pression, or  injury  itself,  to  provoke  them  to  anything  disre- 
spectful to  the  king,  but  to  let  it  appear  that  they  only  desire 
the  preservation  and  security  of  those  rights  which  belong  to 
them  as  freemen  and  Britons,  and  that  reconciliation  on  those 
terms  is  their  most  ardent  desire.  It  then  proceeds  to  say: 
"  Secondly,  be  careful  to  maintain  the  union  which  at  present 
subsists  through  all  the  colonies.  Nothing  can  be  more  mani- 
fest than  that  the  success  of  every  measure  depends  on  its 
being  inviolably  preserved,  and,  therefore,  we  hope  you  will 
leave  nothing  undone  which  can  promote  that  end.  In  par- 
ticular, as  the  Continental  Congress,  noAV  sitting  at  Philadel- 
phia, consists  of  delegates  chosen  in  the  most  free  and  unbiased 
manner  by  the  body  of  the  people,  let  them  not  only  be  treated 
with  respect  and  encouraged  in  their  difficult  service,  not  only 
let  your  prayers  be  offered  up  to  God  for  His  direction  in 
their  proceedings,  but  adhere  firmly  to  their  resolutions,  and 
let  it  be  seen  that  they  are  able  to  bring  out  the  whole 
strength  of  this  vast  country  to  carry  them  into  execution. 
We  would  also  advise,  for  the  same  purpose,  that  a  spirit  of 
candor,  charity  and  mutual  esteem  be  preserved  and  promoted 
towards  those  of  different  religious  denominations.  Persons 
of  probity  and  principle  of  every  profession  should  be  united 
together  as  servants  of  the  same  Master,  and  the  experience 
of  our  happy  concord  hitherto  in  a  state  of  liberty  should  en- 
gage all  to  unite  in  the  support  of  the  common  interest,  for 
there  is  no  example  in  history  in  which  civil  liberty  was  de- 
stroyed and  the  rights  of  conscience  preserved  entire."  ("  Am. 
Pres."  Briggs,  p.  350.) 

In  New  Jersey  the  Presbyterians  and  Reformed  in  a  body 
decided  upon  a  struggle  for  liberty.  The  Presbyterians  of 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  throughout  the  colonies  were 
unanimously  in  favor  of  the  rights  and  liberty  of  the  people. 

Doctor  John  Witherspoon  was  the  only  clergyman  in  the 
Continental  Congress  of  1776.  lie  was  a  lineal  descendant  of 
John  Knox,  and,  like  the  celebrated  Scotch  reformer,  was 
fitted  to  be  a  great  leader  among  men.  Eminent  as  a  scholar, 
a  theologian  and  a  statesman,  imbued  with  an  undying  love 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  he  devoted   all   his  energies  to 


68 

the  support  of  the  rights  of  the  colonies.  In  the  crisis  of  the 
cause  of  independence,  when  the  Declaration  was  to  be  made  or 
to  be  withheld,  when  the  fate  of  colonial  liberty  hung  in  the 
balance,  depending  upon  the  action  about  to  be  taken  bj  the 
Congress,  his  eloquent  voice  was  thus  raised  for  the  Declara- 
tion: "There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men,  a  nick  of  time. 
We  perceive  it  now  before  us.  To  hesitate  is  to  consent  to 
our  own  slavery.  That  noble  instrument  upon  your  table, 
which  insures  immortality  to  its  author,  should  be  subscribed 
this  very  morning  by  every  pen  in  this  house.  He  that  will 
not  respond  to  its  accents  and  strain  every  nerve  to  carry  into 
effect  its  provisions  is  uuAvorthy  of  the  name  of  freeman.  For 
my  own  part,  of  property  I  have  some,  of  reputation  more. 
That  reputation  is  staked,  that  property  is  pledged  on  the 
issue  of  this  contest,  and  although  these  gray  hairs  must  soon 
descend  into  the  sepulchre,  I  would  infinitely  rather  that  they 
descend  thither  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner  than  desert  at 
this  crisis  the  sacred  cause  of  my  country.  ("Am.  Pres.," 
Briggs,  p.  851.)  _ 

The  Declaration  was  made  and  the  war  of  independence 
ensued.  Presbyterians  throughout  the  country  warmly  espoused 
the  cause  of  independence  during  the  entire  period  of  the  con- 
flict. In  the  councils  and  in  the  field,  with  the  voice,  the  pen,  the 
sword,  they  gave  their  sympathy  and  support  to  the  patriot 
cause.  Ministers,  elders  and  people  entered  the  Eevolutionary 
army  and  offered  their  lives  in  the  sacred  cause.  Referring  to  the 
war  in  South  Carolina,  Rev.  Dr.  Smith  writes :  "  The  battles 
of  the  Cowpens,  of  King's  Mountain,  and  also  the  severe 
skirmish  known  as  Huck's  defeat,  are  celebrated  as  giving  a 
turning  to  the  contests  of  the  Revolution.  General  Morgan, 
who  commanded  at  the  Cowpens,  and  Greneral  Pickens,  who 
made  all  the  arrangements  for  the  battle,  were  both  Presby- 
terian elders,  and  nearly  all  under  their  command  were  Pres- 
byterians. In  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain,  Colonels  Camp- 
bell, Williams,  Cleveland,  Shelby  and  Sevier,  as  also  Colonel 
Hamilton  and  Major  James,  were  all  Presbyterian  elders,  and 
the  body  of  their  troops  were  collected  from  Presbyterian  set- 
tlements. At  Huck's  defeat  Colonel  Bratten  and  Major  Dick- 
son were  both  Presbyterian  elders.  Major  Samuel  Morrow, 
who  was  with  Colonel  Sumpter  in  four  engagements,  and  in 
many  other  battles,  was  for  fifty  years  a  ruling  elder  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  ("  Scotch  and  Irish  Seeds  in  Am.  Soil," 
Craighead,  342.) 

A  similar  record  might  be  made  of  the  other  colonies  and 
the  other  battle-fields  of  the  Revolution. 

The  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  issued  their  pas- 
toral letter  in  which  they  say,  "  We  cannot  help  congratu- 


69 

lating  you  on  the  general  and  almost  universal  attachment  of 
the  Presbyterian  body  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  mankind. 

"  This  has  been  visible  in  their  conduct,  and  has  been  con- 
fessed by  the  complaints  and  resentments  of  the  common 
enemy.  Such  a  circumstance  ought  not  only  to  afford  us  sat- 
isfaction on  the  review  as  bringing  credit  to  the  body  in  gen- 
eral, but  to  increase  our  gratitude  to  God  for  the  happy  issue 
of  the  war.  Had  it  been  unsuccessful  we  must  have  drunk 
deeply  of  the  cup  of  suffering.  Our  burnt  and  wasted  churches 
and  our  plundered  dwellings  in  such  places  as  fell  under  the 
power  of  our  adversaries  are  but  an  earnest  of  what  we  must 
have  suffered  had  they  finally  prevailed.  The  Synod,  there- 
fore, request  you  to  render  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  all 
His  mercies,  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  in  a  particular  man- 
ner for  establishing  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America." 

The  venerable  Dr.  Witherspoon  was  a  member  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  New  Jersey  when  the  Federal  Constitution  was  sub- 
mitted to  that  body  for  ratification,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
committee  to  which  the  matter  was  referred  and  reported  in 
favor  of  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution,  whereupon  it  was 
ratified  by  that  State.     (Elliot's  "  Debate."  ) 

"Governments  in  general  have  been  the  result  of  force, 
fraud  or  accident.  After  a  period  of  6000  years  have  elapsed 
since  the  creation,  the  United  States  exhibit  to  the  world  the 
first  instance,  as  far  as  we  can  learn,  of  a  nation  unattacked  by 
external  force,  unconvulsed  by  domestic  insurrection,  assem- 
bling voluntarily,  deliberating  fully,  and  deciding  calmly  con- 
cerning that  system  of  government  under  which  they  would 
wish  that  they  and  their  posteritv  should  live."  (Elliot's 
"Debates,"  Yol.  ii,  p.  422— Wilson  Deb.  Penn.  Con.) 

The  confederation  of  States  failed  to  accomplish  the  purposes 
desired  by  the  people.  The  Constitution  was  adopted  to 
secure  a  more  perfect  form  of  government.  The  American 
Presbyterian  Church  had  grown  up  and  developed  under  the 
observation  of  our  fathers  into  a  system  of  representative 
government,  republican  in  its  nature,  capable  of  indefinite 
expansion,  culminating  in  the  General  Assembh',  the  national 
organization.  Based  as  it  is  on  the  fundamental  principle  of 
the  power  of  the  people,  it  is  quite  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  were  impressed  with  the  com- 
pact, comprehensive  and  liberal  system  of  its  government, 
and  convinced  of  its  adaptability  to  the  nation  about  to  be 
formed ;  especially  may  this  have  been  so  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  Presbyterians  had  been  the  devoted  friends  of  liberty  and 
independence   through   the    long   and   arduous  struggle   for 


70 

liberty,  and  were  influential  and  participating  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  government  itself.  This  seems  to  have  been  the 
opinion  of  many  who  have  considered  the  subject.  "The 
framers  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,"  says  Chief 
Justice  Tilghman,  "were  greatly  indebted  to  the  standards  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  in  modeling  that  admir- 
able instrument."  Hon.  "W.  C.  Preston,  of  South  Carolina, 
also  says,  "  Certainly  it  was  a  remarkable  and  singular  coinci- 
dence that  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  should 
bear  such  a  close  and  striking  resemblance  to  the  political 
Constitution  of  our  country.  This  may  be  regarded  as  an 
earnest  of  our  beloved  national  union.  The  two  may  be  sup- 
posed to  be  formed  after  the  same  model." 

One  thing  we  may  confidently  assert,  that  for  that  feature 
of  the  Constitution  which  secures  the  separation  of  the  Church 
from  the  State  we  are  indebted  mainly  to  the  Presbyterians  of 
America;  they  were  the  principal  element  in  establishing  this 
great  bulwark  of  liberty. 

Such  is  Presbyterianism.  Republican  in  her  Constitution, 
she  has  stood  in  the  world  nearly  four  centuries,  a  beacoa  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty.  In  every  conflict  with  tyranny 
her  sons  have  been  in  the  front  rank  of  those  contending  for 
constitutional  government,  and  in  our  own  land  Presbyterian- 
ism and  Presbyterians  were  among  the  most  forceful  elements 
which  under  a  benignant  Providence  established  our  own 
beloved  institutions. 


CITY  EVANGELIZATION. 


Bv  Rev.  John  Hall,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
New  York  City, 


IN  Prov.  xi,  11,  there  is  a  suggestive  passage:  "By  the  bless- 
ing of  the  upright  the  city  is  exalted;  but  it  is  overthrown 
by  the  mouth  of  the  Avicked."  A  city's  welfare  is  closely 
connected  with  its  moral  conditions.  "  Godliness  exalteth  "  a 
city.  There  is  a  passage  identical  in  spirit  with  this  in  the 
twenty-ninth  chapter  and  second  verse.  "  When  the  right- 
eous are  in  authority,  the  people  rejoice;  but  when  the 
wicked  beareth  rule,  the  people  mourn."  American  life  fur- 
nishes illustrations  of  this  statement  too  public  to  require 
specification. 

Fate  is  sometimes  represented  as  blind;  but  the  Lord  is  all- 
seeing.  Her  blessing  gives  prosperity  to  the  individual.  It 
works  in  the  form  of  wisdom,  saving  him  from  mistakes  of 
judgment ;  in  the  form  of  strength,  fitting  him  for  work ;  in 
the  form  of  defense,  warding  off  evil,  and  in  providence, 
bringing  to  him  useful  friends.  The  same  blessing  exalts  a 
family.  It  makes  each  faithful  in  the  allotted  place ;  it  binds 
together  by  afiection  and  trained  conscience  ;  it  wards  off  the 
influences  that  divide,  degrade  and  destroy. 

But  the  city  is  the  collection  in  near  neighborhood  of  indi- 
viduals and  families.  In  Bible  times  population  was  not  as  a 
rule  scattered  over  the  safe  farmhouses  of  the  country  as  it 
happily  is  with  us.  The  desire  for  security  and  other  consid- 
erations brought  the  people  together,  and  very  closely  to- 
gether, for  walls  had,  as  a  rule,  to  enclose  and  protect  them. 
Mutual  knowledge,  therefore,  was  inevitable.  Influence  was 
felt.  In  a  great  modern  city  isolation  can  be  readily  secured. 
It  was  not  so  in  the  average  Eastern  city,  often,  like  some  of 
our  own  precocious  and  sanguine  "cities,"  containing  only  a 
few  thousands,  or  even  a  few  hundreds  of  people.  The  up- 
right would  be  recognized,  their  influence  would  be  felt,  their 
neighbors  would  be  helped  upward  by  their  example  and  their 
positive  force.  On  the  other  hand,  the  words,  the  vicious 
stories,  the  lies  of  the  wicked,  pull  down  its  people,  reduce 
every  element  of  strength  and  eventually  overthrow  it.  The 
71 


72 

blessing  is  driven  awaj.     The  curse  which   follows  sin  and 
makes  misery  comes  in  its  room. 

The  principle  involved  in  all  this  comes  out  in  the  second 
text,  and  is  of  easy  illustration  in  our  free  land,  where  the 
people  choose  their  rulers.  Give  righteous  city  authorities, 
and  the  people  rejoice.  On  the  other  hand,  let  there  be  un- 
principled, dishonest,  corrupt  men  bearing  rule  and  the  people, 
even  though  their  own  apathy  or  venality  accounts  for  the 
fact,  will  be  humiliated,  discouraged  and  depressed.  It  fol- 
lows, therefore,  that  the  promotion  of  uprightness,  or,  as  the 
second  verse  puts  it,  the  elevation  of  the  righteous,  is  to  be 
sought  if  citizens  are  to  be  happy  and  prosperous,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  utterances  and  sway  of  the  bad  will  in- 
evitably lead  to  sorrow  and  decay. 

But  the  way  to  get  the  good  forces  into  their  place  and  to 
banish  the  evil  is  to  teach  men  the  truth  of  God  and  to  bring 
them  to  the  reverent  and  filial  fear  of  their  Maker.  The 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which  God  is  revealed  and  by  which 
men  are  drawn  to  Him,  with  its  divine  and  appropriate  ordi- 
nances and  machinery,  is  the  way  to  purity  of  heart,  of  speech^ 
of  life  and  of  administration.  Hence  the  question  of  the 
evangelization  of  our  cities  is  one  of  the  most  important  and 
practical  that  can  be  raised.     What  are  the  hindrances  ? 

Deepest  of  all,  of  course,  is  the  natural  irreligion.  Men 
and  women  do  not  by  their  nature  seek  after  God  and  Godly 
things.  On  the  contrary,  when  religious  instincts  have  be- 
come paralyzed  from  defective  training  and  positive  evil  in 
influence,  association  and  habit,  the  men  and  women  seek  to 
be  away  from  the  means  of  grace.  If  they  really  craved  for 
them  they  could  find  them.  "  Where  there  is  a  will  there  is 
a  way."  Hence  there  is  developed  a  condition  of  things 
which  it  is  pertinent  to  this  subject  to  emphasize.  Well- 
brought-up  religious  people,  who  from  ignorance  of  the  local- 
ity, poverty  or  any  other  cause,  find  themselves  in  a  bad 
neighborhood,  make  the  necessary  efforts  to  get  away  from  it. 
Go  down  into  certain  regions  of  New  York  and  inquire  and 
you  will  find  that  nearly  every  Presbyterian  family  has  gone 
away,  and  from  laudable  motives.  "  We  cannot  bear,  and  we 
do  not  wish  our  children  to  breathe  this  atmosphere."  There 
is,  unfortunately,  a  large  class,  home  born  and  imported,  to 
whom  a  region  of  this  kind  is  attractive.  It  is  what  they 
want.  There  are  the  proprietors  of  low  theatres,  gambling 
dens  and  houses  such  as  the  Bible  describes  as  the  way  to  hell, 
and  there  are  yet  greater  numbers  who  live  by  them.  They  do 
not  want  to  be  settled  among  churches  and  church-going 
people.  They  wish  for  these  places  as  really  as  the  fish  does 
for  water,  as  the  bear  does  for  the  woods,  and  it  is  not  fair 


nor  true  to  the  truth  of  things  to  lay  blame  on  American 
churches  for  the  existence  of  such  places.  It  is  easy  to  de- 
signate a  district  with  so  many  thousands  without  a  church. 
You  could  designate  equally  large  districts  without  a  first- 
class  business  house  for  dry  goods  or  groceries.  But  for  all 
that  the  people  do  not  go  without  food  and  clothing.  There  is 
a  sense  in  which  the  law  of  demand  and  supply  works,  and 
must  work  in  a  country  like  ours,  with  a  free  church  sustained 
by  the  worshipers.  Nor  would  it  necessarily  mend  the  matter 
to  put  an  endo  wed  church  among  them.  Go  to  London,  and 
you  will  find  parish  churches  so  deserted  from  various  causes 
that  again  and  again  the  eftbrt  has  been  made  to  remove  the 
endowments  to  places  where  there  would  be  worshipers.  It 
is  not  that  there  are  no  people.  It  is  that  there  are  not 
church-going  people,  that  there  are  people  who  choose  the 
place  for  its  very  godlessness.  It  is  not  meant  that  no  effort 
should  be  made  for  these  people.  They  should  be  dealt  with 
as  other  heathen  are  dealt  with.  It  is  meant  to  vindicate  the 
churches  from  indiscriminating  blame  that  is  now  and  then 
laid  on  them. 

Among  other  hindrances  in  our  cities  may  be  mentioned 
the  confusion  of  tongues.  Our  great  cities  are  a  little  Babel- 
like. There  are  some  Germans  in  a  given  district,  not  enough 
to  get  a  church  of  their  own,  but  not  at  home  in  an  English 
church.  So  it  is  with  Italians,  Bohemians  and  others  who 
settle  among  us. 

Nearly  approaching  this  is  diversity  of  denominations. 
People  find  nothing  exactly  like  the  worship  to  which  they 
were  accustomed ;  they  do  nothing  but  wait  in  a  vague  way 
till  something  opens  up,  and  meantime  church  feeling  and  re- 
ligious feeling  die  out,  and  by  the  time  there  does  come  the 
opportunity  they  have  little  interest  in  it. 

The  advocates  of  special  agencies,  and  especially  of  great 
mission  buildings,  sometimes  overlook  the  above  tacts.  Dr. 
Chalmers,  for  example,  is  sometimes  quoted  in  forgetfulness  of 
the  fact  that  he  was  dealing  with  people  thoroughly  of  one 
blood,  language  and  religious  sentiment  and  traditions. 

All  are  agreed  that  the  Church  should  aim  at  the  enlarge- 
ment of  its  working  force.  That  working  force  consists  in 
recognized  official  teachers  and  rulers  and  in  bodies  of  people 
organized  and  bearing  witness  to  the  truth  and  regularly  edi- 
fied through  the  Word,  sacraments  and  prayer. 

This  latter  element  differentiates  church  extension  from  for- 
mal revival  work  by  evangelists,  in  which  the  element  of  the 
sacraments  and  the  church  life  which  they  imply  are  wanting 
in  the  nature  of  the  case.  Evangelists  turn  over  "  converts  " 
for  these  ends  to  existing  churches. 


74 

It  is  agreed  on  all  hands  that  cities  ought  to  be  evangelized. 
They  are  very  important,  but  the  country  is  not  to  be  over- 
looked. It  suDplies  the  cities  with  their  best  elements,  if  the 
testimony  is  credible.  There  are  places  even  in  good  old  New 
England  where  the  country  is  going  behind  in  church  life. 
There  are  two  forms  in  which  the  effort  at  evangelization  is 
usually  pushed.  The  first  is  "  missions,"  by  which  we  mean  a 
continuous  supply  of  preaching  without  congregational  life 
and  organization.  In  some  instances  there  are  persons  admit- 
ted to  membership,  and  the  Lord's  Supper  is  administered, 
but  the  members  are  included  in  the  mother  Church  and 
under  the  oversight  of  her  ofl&cers. 

The  other  plan  into  which  the  missionary  form  of  effort 
often  runs  is  colonization.  By  this  word  we  mean,  of  course, 
the  detachment  of  a  number  of  members  and  the  setting  up, 
mainly  through  these,  of  an  organized  congregation  with  its 
own  officers  managing  its  affairs.  Which  of  the  two  is  the 
better?  A  categorical  answer  cannot  be  given.  The  deter- 
mining element  is  in  the  conditions  of  the  people,  in  a  special 
degree  in  their  character.  In  many  quarters  there  are  no 
church  members  to  be  collected  by  a  particular  effort,  there 
is  no  material  for  church  officers,  there  are  no  members  to 
make  intelligent  selection,  yet  there  are  crowds  of  unin- 
structed  people.  Mission  work  must  be  attempted  and  must 
go  on  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  according  to  circumstances. 
As  soon  as  the  elements  of  organic  life  are  developed  then 
organization  is  proper.  When  this  stage  is  in  view  there  is 
commonly,  through  the  prevalent  ideas  of  American  people, 
a  difficulty  to  be  faced,  namely,  the  word  "mission,"  which 
rightly  or  wrongly  is  linked  with  ideas  of  dependence  and  of 
eleemosynary  agencies.  The  word  should  ordinarily  be 
dropped.  We  are  to  take  stumbling-blocks  out  of  the  way 
of  the  undiscriminating. 

In  great  cities  a  difficulty  has  to  be  met  in  the  cost  of  build- 
ings. It  comes  in  two  forms,  one  of  which  is  outside  control, 
namely,  the  cost  of  land.  In  a  good  business  part  of  the  city, 
or  in  a  good  residential  district,  the  cost  of  land  on  which  to 
build  is  high.  The  second  is  in  some  degree  under  control, 
namely,  the  cost  of  the  edifice.  People  are  slow  to  learn  the 
fact  that  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  and  especially  if  we  are  to 
cultivate  independence  and  self-respect  and  minimize  the  elee- 
mosynary element,  the  Church-homes  should  be  substantially 
on  the  plane  of  the  homes  of  the  worshipers — a  little  above 
them,  indeed,  so  as  to  lift  up,  but  still  on  their  plane. 

On  the  other  hand,  where  a  district  contains  a  section  of  a 
strong  congregation,  is  growing  in  congenial  population,  and 
the  worshipers  have  a  fair  hope  of  self-respecting,  self-gov. 


75 

erning  life,  colonization  is  natural,  fitting,  on  the  lines  of  com- 
mon sense,  and,  most  important  of  all.  on  the  lines  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments.  All  proper  aid  should,  of  course,  go 
from  the  mother  Church  to  the  outgoing  child  "  setting  up 
house."  The  larger  the  city,  as  we  have  seen,  the  harder  it 
commonly  is  to  meet  the  necessary  expenses. 

Turning  to  the  mission  plan,  there  are  certain  inevitable 
drawbacks,  which  it  is  the  plain  duty  of  all  to  minimize  to  the 
utmost.  Among  the  methods  of  attempting  this,  the  follow- 
ing may  be  noticed : 

(a)  Let  the  mission  minister  be  treated  by  the  ,  mother 
Church's  pastor  on  true.  Scriptural,  Presbyterian  lines,  as  in 
every  way  his  equal.     Let  him  be  a  member  of  Presbytery. 

(b)  Let  him  be  ordained  and  installed,  so  as  to  administer 
ordinances  and  have  a  full  standing  as  a  minister  among  his 
people. 

(c)  Let  the  idea  and  hope  of  ultimate  organic  life  be  kept 
before  the  people,  and  let  the  habit  of  self-supporting,  devo- 
tional giving  be  developed  to  the  utmost.  There  will  be  some 
retarding  forces.  The  janitor,  the  organ-blower,  or  even  the 
organist,  may  be  counted  among  these.  They  are  afraid  that 
their  monthly  checks  cannot  be  counted  upon  as  confidently 
from  the  struggling  child  as  from  the  mother  Church. 

In  the  way  of  colonization,  again,  there  are  difficulties  that 
have  not  been  stated.  Some  of  them  are  more  or  less  re- 
movable. 

The  first,  and  worst,  is  defective  Presbyterian  attachment. 
Too  many  claim  credit  for  catholicity  which,  in  their  case,  is 
only  in  fact  the  child  of  ignorance  or  indifference.  "Churches," 
they  say,  "  are  very  much  all  alike  :  the  point  is  to  be  in  one, 
not  which  that  one  is."  Sane  men  do  not  commonly  say, 
"  Wives  are  pretty  much  alike :  the  thing  is  to  have  one,  not 
of  what  kind  she  is."  Under  the  influence  of  this  feeling,  or 
non-feeling,  Presbyterians,  who  might  be  the  nucleus  of  new 
organizations,  think  of  possible  calls  for  money,  the  cost  of 
building  and  sustaining;  they  pose  in  godless  non-attach- 
ment to  any  Church,  or  they  inspect  now  and  then  the  exist- 
ing organizations,  waiting  to  see  if  their  brethren  will  erect  a 
handsome  edifice  and  then  invite  their  kind  patronage.  We 
speak  of  the  peculiarities  of  uninstructed  human  nature.  Give 
us  intelligent  and  attached  Presbyterians,  who  remember  the 
traditions  of  their  fathers  and  know  the  teachings  of  their 
Bibles,  and  you  give  us  bodies  of  people  who  will  face  and 
conquer  difficulties  for  the  sake  of  an  agency  commended  to 
their  consciences  and  to  be  a  blessing  to  them  and  their  chil- 
dren. Before  such  scattered  exiles  the  mountains  become 
plains. 


76 

To  the  second  difficulty  reference  has  been  made  in  another 
connection.  It  is  defective  views  of  the  fitness  of  things. 
The  plant  of  the  new  congregation,  it  is  thought,  must  not  be  in- 
ferior to  that  of  the  fine,  long-existing  and  established  churches. 
Just  so  there  are  elements  in  society  of  weakness  and  folly. 
There  are  men  who  never  enjoy  the  real  blessings  of  a  home, 
because  they  did  not  see  their  way  to  setting  it  up  on  the  same 
scale  of  cost,  display  and  elegance  to  which  their  parents 
climbed,  perhaps  through  years  of  toil  and  enterprise.  What 
a  pity  that  such  sluggish  and  mistaken  Christians  do  not  study 
the  Ne\Y  Testament !  The  infant  churches  of  Ephesus,  Phil- 
ippi,  and  other  such  places,  to  which  we  look  up  sentimentally, 
did  not  wait  for  a  quartette,  organ  and  attendant  stafl"  in  a 
handsome  sacred  edifice.  They  met  in  the  synagogues  when 
they  could ;  when  they  could  not,  in  the  houses  of  the  people, 
unless,  indeed,  there  was  a  splendid,  enterprising  leader  who 
could  hire  a  school-house. 

The  third  difficulty  is  in  the  tendency  to  make  religion  the 
handmaid  of  society.  This  is  one  of  the  curses  of  the  com- 
munity. "Quit the  old  church,"  people  say,  "  and  we  give  up 
those  lovely  people  that  we  are  accustomed  to  meet,  and  we  go 
in  with  people  we  don't  know — very  good  people,  no  doubt, 
and  we  shall  like  them  in  Heaven,  but  we  don't  know  them 
now — in  fact,  they  are  not  of  our  set."  All  men  are  free  and 
equal  in  the  terms  of  our  national  constitution,  but  for  practi- 
cal Christian  life  we  have  modified  this  view  to  the  hurt  of  the 
community  and  the  dishonor  of  Christ.  We  have  to  teach  and 
learn  God's  plan :  "Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His 
righteousness." 

In  view  of  all  these  facts  we  have  to  conclude  that  where 
the  conditions  favor  it,  colonization  is  desirable ;  that  our 
Church  in  young  and  growing  cities  should  keep  pace  with  the 
people  ;  that,  as  recent  examination  in  London  shows,  denomi- 
national work  is  on  the  whole  in  advance  of  undenominational 
in  its  acceptability  to  the  people;  and  that  where  through 
folly,  sin,  and,  in  part,  ecclesiastical  neglect,  in  times  past  there 
are  crowds  of  practical  heathen  in  our  cities — there  missionary 
effort  must  be  attempted  in  whatever  form  will  best  reach  the 
ear  and  heart  of  those  who  have  to  be  brought  and  taught,  to 
appreciate  "  the  Word,  sacraments  and  prayer." 


CITY     EVANGELIZATION:     ITS 
METHODS. 


By  Rev.  Moses  D.  Hoge,  D.D., 

Richmond,   Va. 


THE  most  pathetic  saying  ever  uttered  with  regard  to  any 
city  was  this : 

' '  He  beheld  the  city  and  wept  over  it." 

What  Christ  saw  in  Jerusalem  and  what  moved  Him  to 
tears  was  what  we  see  in  the  great  cities  of  the  world  in  our 
day — ignorance,  destitution,  disease,  forgetfulness  of  God,  rejec- 
tion of  proffered  salvation,  the  sad  spectacle  of  human  want 
and  human  woe  in  all  their  sad  variety.  Christ  saw  and 
wept.  His  tears  were  the  meltings  of  His  own  heart  of  pity, 
and  love  beyond  degree.  But  it  was  no  sentimental  grief  like 
that  which  depicts  in  moving  strains  a  sorrow  which  it  does 
not  seek  to  assuage.  It  profits  little  to  unfold  a  tale,  whose 
horror  shocks  the  emotional  nature,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
dramatic  muse,  depicting  tragic  scenes  without  proposing  any 
relief  of  the  misery  so  graphically  portrayed.  The  sympathy 
of  Christ  was  a  helpful,  healing,  burden-bearing,  sorrow- sooth- 
ing sympathy.  With  that  wonderful  condensation  of  great 
truths,  characteristic  of  the  Scriptures,  the  sacred  writers  give 
us  an  epitome  of  the  life  of  Christ,  brief  and  infinitely  sug- 
gestive, when  it  is  said,  "  He  went  about  doing  good,"  not 
merely  blessing  those  who  came  to  Him  for  relief,  but  seeking 
all  who  needed  succor,  so  that  in  all  Judea,  Samaria  and  Gali- 
lee there  was  no  region  untrodden  by  the  feet  which  were 
nailed  for  our  advantage  to  the  bitter  cross.  In  the  davs  of 
our  Lord  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  were  crowded  with 
cities,  and  when  the  needy,  sin  and  sorrow- stricken  flocked  to 
Him  in  ever -increasing  numbers,  He  said  to  His  disciples,  "I 
have  compassion  on  the  multitude,"  a  compassion  pure  as  the 
pellucid  waters  of  the  sea  and  deep  as  its  bed,  and  the  practi- 
cal form  which  His  pity  took  is  announced  to  us  in  the  state- 
ment, "He  healed  them  all,"  whether  the-  blind  led  by  the 
hands  of  those  who  had  vision,  or  the  paralytic  borne  on  the 


78       • 

shoulders  of  the  strong,  or  sick  babes  lying,  like  withered 
flowers,  on  the  bosoms  of  their  mothers,  "  He  healed  them  all." 

The  world  never  saw  such  magnanimity  of  forgiving  love 
as  He  displayed  when  He  commanded  His  disciples  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  all  nations,  with  the  one  proviso  that  they  were 
to  begin  with  the  city  that  had  rejected  and  crucified  Him. 

From  that  day  to  ours,  cities  have  been  at  once  the  chief  fields 
for  religious  aggressive  work,  and  the  chief  fountains  of  out- 
going evangelistic  influence. 

A  great  military  leader,  whose  name  is  a  synonym  for  piety 
as  it  is  for  valor,  was  one  day  conversing  with  a  member  of 
his  staff  who  had  been  a  theological  student,  on  the  tactics  of 
tho  Apostle  Paul  in  seizing  upon  great  cities  and  making  them 
strongholds  for  Christ,  and  in  the  phraseology  most  familiar  to 
him,  curtly  said,  "I  wish  you  to  investigate  the  subject  and 
report  to  me."  In  due  time  the  report  was  presented,  and  the 
young  oflicer  proceeded  to  explain  how  Antioch  and  other 
great  cities  early  became  the  chief  centres  of  Christian  influ- 
ence, when  the  General  iaterrupted  him  and  said,  "  "Why  do 
you  say  chief  centres?  Headquarters  is  a  better  name."  From 
the  headquarters  of  an  army  issue  the  orders  which  control 
the  campaign,  and  it  is  well  to  discover  where  the  strongest 
spiritual  foes  of  the  Church  entrench  themselves,  that  they 
may  be  captured  and  converted  into  allies  of  the  sacramental 
army,  commissioned  to  bring  back  this  revolted  world  to  alle- 
giance to  its  rightful  Lord. 

Good  Pastor  George  Fisch,  in  the  second  General  Council  of 
the  Presbyterian  Alliance,  held  in  this  city,  told  us  that  the 
conquest  of  Paris  for  the  Gospel  meant  virtually  the  conquest 
of  France.  The  capital  of  gaiety,  pleasure,  fashion,  fine  arts, 
science  and  political  influence  controlled  the  provinces,  and  so 
when  Germany  invaded  France  Von  Moltke  saw  that  Paris 
was  the  key  to  the  whole  territory,  and  he  determined  to  cap- 
ture it  at  any  cost.  It  was  impregnable,  but  no  matter,  the 
impossible  happened,  and  after  an  investment  of  twenty  weeks 
it  surrendered  and  the  war  was  at  an  end.  In  our  own  coun- 
try theoretically  this  Union  is  a  republic  of  sovereign  States, 
practically  it  is  becoming  a  nation  of  sovereign  cities.  When 
we  win  these  we  secure  the  resources  by  which  the  whole  con- 
tinent may  be  won.  It  was  the  ajiostolic  method  of  subju- 
gating every  land  where  the  Gospel  gained  its  victories.  Its 
first  triumphs,  as  we  have  seen,  were  in  Jerusalem, 
in  Antioch — Antioch  renamed  Theopolis,  the  City  of 
God,  the  home  of  Chrysostora,  the  golden-mouthed,  and 
the  place  where  the  honored  name  of  Christian  first 
originated.  It  entered  Ephesus,  the  magnificent  city 
which    once    crowned     the     heiofhts  of    Mounts   Prion  and 


7a 

Coressus,  and  where  gay  gardens  once  bloomed  on  the 
banks  of  the  Cayster,  and  there  a  church  was  gathered,  to 
which  Paul  addressed  one  of  the  most  delightful  of  his  Epistles. 
It  flew  to  Thessalonica,  that  ancient  Liverpool  of  the  Levant, 
from  which  sounded  out  the  Word  of  God  through  Macedonia 
and  Achaia,  the  city  of  Theodosus  and  of  Ambrose,  and  whose 
honorable  title  was  "  The  Orthodox  City."  It  captured  Cor- 
inth, it  called  at  Athens  long  enough  to  deliver  to  the  Athe- 
nians a  nobler  oration  than  Demosthenes  ever  spoke  from 
the  bema.  It  came  at  last  to  Rome,  and  left  its  con- 
verts in  Nero's  household.  The  unconquerable  will, 
the  self-forgetting  love,  the  sublime  confidence  in  God, 
the  hope  of  victory  shining  with  clearest  radiance  where 
the  darkness  was  deepest,  the  dauntless  courage,  which 
grew  more  invincible  as  danger  thickened — these  were  the 
elements  of  the  splendid  successes  of  the  Apostolic  Age,  and 
we  must  have  the  ancient  faith  if  we  would  have  the  ancient 
conquests.  There  are  no  hopeless  classes  save  those  whom  the 
Church  pronounces  hopeless.  The  difl&culty  in  evangelizing 
the  great  cities  of  the  world  lies  ,in  the  difficulty  of  overcom- 
ing the  apathy  and  heedlessness  of  the  churches  within  them, 
a  heedlessness  which,  in  view  of  the  perils  which  confront  us, 
looks  like  recklessness,  and  reminds  us  of  the  old  story  of  the 
vine  dresser  on  the  slopes  of  Vesuvius,  or  the  careless  life  of 
the  Paris  saloii  on  the  eve  of  the  revolution  of  '92. 

So  long  as  the  efforts  of  the  most  fervid  friends  of  the  des- 
titute and  degraded  masses  are  chilled  and  benumbed  by  the 
indifference  of  the  wealthy,  refined  and  educated  classes,  com- 
paratively little  will  be  accomplished.  Our  most  urgent  need 
at  the  present  is  a  general  awakening  among  our  most  influen- 
tial church  members  of  a  spirit  akin  to  the  fervor  of  the 
Crusades,  without  its  fanaticism — the  propulsion  of  public 
opinion  kindled  into  sympathy  with  our  aims  and  eager  for 
cooperation. 

When  this  is  gained,  our  plans  for  city  evangelization  be- 
come efficient.  The  incoming  tides  are  resistless  with  the 
whole  Atlantic  behind  them  moving  steadily  toward  the 
shore. 

Public  sentiment,  arrested,  aroused  and  flowing  in  the  right 
direction,  will  remove  many  of  the  hindrances  which  now  im- 
pede and  even  antagonize  the  proposed  work.  Tliese  reform- 
atory influences  must  come  from  without,  some  of  them  in 
the  form  of  better  laws  against  Sabbath  desecration,  more 
stringent  laws  against  the  liquor  traffic,  which  bears  its  most 
deadly  fruits  among  the  very  classes  we  are  trying  to  save; 
wiser  sanitary  laws,  and  especially  the  substitution  of  decent 
dwellings  for  the  huge  and  hideous  tenements  in  which  civili- 


80 

zation  itself  is  impossible;  and  possibly  amended  immigration 
and  naturalization  laws  for  protection  against  those  who  come 
to  this  country  without  even  rudimentary  ideas  either  of  the 
value  or  the  meaning  of  constitutional  government,  and  who 
confound  republican  liberty  with  immunity  to  criminals 
making  immediate  war  upon  domestic,  social  and  public  order, 
in  a  word,  upon  the  institutions  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of 
all  that  we  hold  dear  as  citizens  and  Christians. 

In  making  these  references  I  do  not  forget  or  underrate 
the  fact  that  the  Gospel  is  the  world's  true  reformer.  But 
these  reforms  are  the  results  of  that  Gospel,  and  but  for  its  in- 
fluence would  have  no  existence.  The  Gospel  is,  indeed,  the 
true  reformer,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  it  can  have  no  allies. 
Sunlight,  pure  air,  uncontaminated  water,  wholesome  food, 
abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks,  protection  against  zymotic 
diseases,  the  suppression  of  licentious  literature,  of  gambling- 
houses,  of  Sunday  theatrical  entertainments  and  of  brothels, 
the  efforts  of  scientific  and  philanthropic  associations  for  the 
removal  of  the  evils  which  brutalize  the  masses  and  make 
them  a  standing  menace  to  civiHzation — all  these,  as  Christian 
men,  we  may  welcome,  not  as  substitutes  for  the  Gospel,  but  as 
mighty  aids  to  those  who  preach  it.  Living  in  a  world  where 
the  ear  is  pained  with  every  day's  report  of  the  miseries  which 
afflict  humanity,  and  where  in  whatever  direction  we  turn  our 
eyes  we  see  the  diversified  forms  of  suffering,  for  one,  while  I 
regard  the  Church  as  the  noblest  of  all  organizations,  I  am 
not  jealous  of  the  associations,  orders  and  fraternities  which 
have  for  their  aim  the  extirpation  of  the  wrongs  which  at 
once  degrade  and  exasperate  the  populace,  and  I  bless  God  for 
every  agency  consecrated  to  the  uplifting,  enlightenment  and  . 
advancement  of  the  neglected,  sorrow-laden  millions  of  man- 
kind. 

But  far  beyond  and  above  all  this,  am  I  thankful  for  that 
Gospel  which  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one 
that  believeth,  and  this  brings  me  to  the  consideration  of  the 
more  direct  means  of  city  evangelization  by  the  preaching  of 
that  Gospel.  It  is  admitted  that  our  resources  in  numbers, 
talent,  wealth,  learning  and  piety  are  sufficient  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  great  undertaking  if  we  could  combine  and 
direct  them  so  intelligently  that,  without  friction,  or  getting 
in  each  otlier's  way,  or  bestowing  too  much  labor  on  one  part 
of  the  field  while  Another  part  is  neglected,  we  could  prosecute 
the  work  in  a  systematic  and  thorough  manner  until  the  whole 
is  cultivated.  Perhaps  the  most  complete  of  all  the  plans  sug- 
gested is  that  recommended  by  the  General  Christian  Confer- 
ence, held  in  "Washington  in  December  last.  That  plan  con- 
templated the  formation  of  local  Evangelical  Alliances  in  all 


81 

the  cities,  large  and  small,  throughout  the  entire  country. 
This  is  the  plan  of  denominational  cooperation.  It  proposes 
to  district  the  whole  territory  to  be  occupied,  the  entire  popu- 
lation of  non-church-goers,  as  it  was  said,  to  constitute  the 
"field,"  and  each  church  the  "force"  to  work  it  by  the  agency 
of  supervisors  or  directors,  and  visitors  making  a  systematic 
canvass,  house  by  house,  room  by  room,  and  presenting 
monthly  reports  of  the  discoveries  made  and  of  the  work 
accomplished. 

Time  alone  can  determine  whether  such  deaominational 
cooperation  will  become  the  permanent  policy  of  the  Church 
in  laboring  for  city  evangelization.  It  proposes  to  hold  all 
distinctive  doctrinal  views  in  the  background,  and,  in  preach- 
ing to  the  masses,  to  make  the  cross  alone  prominent.  If 
this  method  does  not  receive  the  full  approval  of  some  who 
have  strong  convictions  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  scheme 
of  salvation  should  be  unfolded,  and  who  maintain  that  even 
those  who  propose  to  make  Christ  their  only  theme  may  hold 
such  views  of  the  atonement  itself  as  to  preach  another  Grospel. 
They  therefore  prefer  the  mode  of  separate  church  enterprise, 
discouraging  all  proselytism,  never  intruding  on  ground 
already  occupied,  and  cherishing  the  kindest  relations  with 
other  communions. 

Those  who  adopt  the  denominational  plan  of  city  evangeli- 
zation may  gain  much  information  by  the  study  of  the  methods 
of  those  who  have  worked  most  successfully  along  that  line. 
Take,  for  example,  the  labors  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  who,  through 
his  powerful  influence,  succeeded  in  building  more  church  edi- 
fices in  a  few  years  than  had  been  erected  during  the  previous 
century  in  connection  with  the  Establishment;  or  the  case  of 
the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  where  470  of  the  600  churches 
needed  were  erected  in  a  single  year  ;*  or  of  the  Established 
Church  of  England,  in  the  city  of  London,  during  the  last  ten 
years;  or  of  the  Congregational  Church,  of  Tolmer's  Square; 
or  of  the  Baptist  Church,  on  Burdett  Road,  in  the  East  End, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  which  the  discoveries  were  made  de- 
tailed in  "  The  Bitter  Cry  of  Outcast  London,"  which  so 
startled  England  and  the  world  a  few  years  ago ;  or  of  the 
Mission  of  the  Regent  Square  Presbyterian  Church,  with  its 
admirably -conducted  Aldenham  Institute. 

But,  whatever  may  be  the  different  plans  of  city  evangeli- 
zation, the  essential  thing  is  to  make  every  one  of  them  effi- 
cient by  the  untiring  personal  activity  of  the  largest  number 
that  can  be  enlisted  in  the  work.  The  most  admirable  or- 
ganization possible  will  not  work  itself.     Our  danger  lies  in 

*  Dr.  Taylor,  of  Xewark,  N.  J.,  in  Presb.  Alliance,  18S0. 


82 

standing  by,  indolently  admiring  the  perfection  of  our  ma- 
cMnery.  If  we,  as  Presbyterians,  have  not  made  the  progress 
expected  of  us  in  evangelizing  the  masses,  it  has  not  been  because 
of  any  defect  in  the  theory  or  constitution  of  our  Church,  but  in 
the  men  whose  business  it  was  to  demonstrate  the  efficiency  of 
our  organization  by  making  it  the  greatest  power  for  good  in 
the  world.  In  the  destitute  districts  of  our  cities  I  venture  to 
suggest  that  we  should  combine  two  plans  of  operation — the 
establishment  of  a  few  large  churches  and  the  multiplication 
of  small  centres  of  evangelistic  effort. 

There  is  a  strange  power  in  the  sympathy  and  zeal   engen- 
dered by  the  aggregation  of  numbers  in  a  noble  enterprise. 
The  Church  of  Eugland  has  taken   advantage  of  this  prin- 
ciple in  the  use   of  its   great  cathedrals  for  popular  services. 
This  is  notably  true  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  and  of  Westmins- 
ter Abbey.     Once  these  stately  edifices  were  the  shrines   of 
exclusive,   aristocratic  churchism,  now  they  are  thronged  by 
the  multitude,  made  up  of  all  sorts   and   conditions   of  men, 
attracted  by  the  most  eloquent   and   learned    divines   of  the 
English  Establishment.  If  the  best  known,  most  honored  min- 
isters of  our  great  city  churches   would  each  select  the  most 
destitute  locality  known  to  him,  inhabited  by  the  most  igno- 
rant and  degraded  of  the  population,  and  in  the  largest  build- 
ing which  could  be  secured  for  the  purpose  would  commence 
an  afternoon  or  a  night  service,  results  the   most   cheering 
would  crown  these  labors  of  love.     The  inhabitants  of  these 
neglected  localities  would  be  conciliated  by  the   spectacle   of 
men  constrained  only  by  love  for  their  souls  engaged  in  these 
self-denying    toils;  and  far    more  important  than  that,  men 
who  have  proved  their   power   by  the   capacity   they  have 
shown  in  the  management  of  the  great  charges  committed  to 
them  are  the  men  best   qualified   to   minister   to   those  who 
differ  from  the  heathen   only  in  speaking   the   English   lan- 
guage and  in  adopting  the  vices  of  civilization.     And  when 
under  their   ministrations  souls  are  awakened   and   the  cry, 
"  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?  "  is  heard,  then  the    experi- 
ence, the  prudence  and  the  sympathy  of  such  pastors  will  find 
the  noblest  field  of  exercise. 

I  know  the  objections  that  can  be  urged  to  such  a  course. 
I  know  how  city  pastors  are  already  overburdened,  how  they 
are  pressed  beyond  measure  by  exacting  duties  regularly  re- 
curring and  distracted  by  unexpected  demands  on  their  time ; 
but,  brethren,  we  do  not  know  how  much  work  we  can 
accomplish  under  the  fresh  incitement  of  new  and  promising 
avenues  for  usefulness  opening  immediately  before  us  and 
beckoning  on  to  successes  surpassing  any  we  have  hitherto 
known. 


83 

If  I,  an  humble  minister  in  a  small  city,  without  presump- 
tion, might  refer  to  mj  own  experience  in  mission  work,  I 
would  say  that  for  three  years  I  have  preached  three  times 
every  Sabbath,  the  third  service  being  held  in  what  is  called 
the  Old  Market  Hall,  the  largest  in  Richmond,  and  situated  in 
a  densely  populated  neighborhood,  singularly  overlooked  and 
in  sore  need  of  what  the  Gospel  alone  can  supply.  There  I 
have  a  congregation  limited  only  by  the  size  of  the  building. 
It  is  an  eager,  expectant  throng,  the  very  sight  of  which  is  at 
once  subduing  and  animating.  If  I  am  fatigued  by  the  second 
service  in  my  church  in  the  afternoon,  I  am  refreshed  and  in- 
vigorated by  the  third,  held  in  the  hall  at  night. 

At  first  my  congregations  were  disorderly,  many  of  them 
never  having  attended  a  religious  service  in  their  lives,  but 
now  they  are  as  decorous  as  any  of  yours  are  on  a  Sacramen- 
tal Sabbath.  We  have  connected  with  this  mission  a  medi- 
cal infirmary,  free  of  charge;  a  Bible  class,  a  Sabbath -school, 
prayer  meetings  in  private  houses,  a  society,  composed  of  the 
young  ladies  of  my  church,  rendering  help  in  every  way  in 
their  power  to  girls  hving  in  the  vicinity  of  the  hall,  and  every 
Thursday  night  a  meeting  for  inquirers  seeking  the  way  of 
life;  and  the  last  one  I  attended  was  the  most  encouraging 
of  all  since  I  commenced  my  work  in  that  part  of  the  city. 

I  number  these  three  years  among  the  most  delightful  of 
my  life,  and  I  can  never  be  too  grateful  for  the  privilege  of 
gathering  such  a  multitude  around  me,  so  willing  to  be  in- 
structed, and  rewarding  my  interest  in  them  by  the  most  un- 
mistakable evidences  of  affection. 

In  providing  places  for  the  gathering  of  the  people  in  such 
localities,  it  will  often  be  found  that  a  public  hall  or  large 
apartment  in  some  building  devoted  to  secular  purposes,  is 
more  attractive  than  a  church  edifice.  Mortifying  though  it 
be,  it  is  a  fact  that  many  of  those  whom  we  wish  to  reach, 
regard  churches  as  the  retreats  of  a  spiritual  aristocracy. 
Ecclesiastical  architecture  has  no  charm  in  their  eyes.  The 
freedom  of  a  hall  into  which  they  can  enter  unembarrassed,  as 
open  to  them  as  a  public  square,  where  they  can  feel  at  ease  in 
their  working  clothes — the  only  ones  they  have,  it  may  be — 
and  where  there  is  no  reminder  of  social  inequalities,  is  some- 
thing they  appreciate  most  decidedly,  and  forms  a  strong  in- 
ducement to  attend  the  religious  services  to  which  they  have 
been  invited.  This  must  not  be  forgotten  by  those  who  seek 
to  gather  in  the  classes  that  have  no  pleasant  associations  with 
the  House  of  God.  That  will  come  afterwards,  if  they  can  be 
inter  ested  in  the  first  services,  which  they  have  been  persuaded 
to  attend. 

There  is  one  department  of  worship  which  may  be  made 


84 

especially  attractive  to  tlie  multitude  gathered  at  our  mission 
stations.  All  of  us  have  felt  what  Augustine  experienced  in 
listening  to  the  commingled  voices  of  the  great  congregation 
hfted  up  in  praise,  though  we  might  not  be  able  to  express  it 
as  he  has  done.  "  How  freely,"  says  he,  "  was  I  made  to  weep 
by  those  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  how  transported  by  the 
voice  of  the  congregation  sweetly  singing.  The  melody  of  their 
voices  filled  my  ear,  and  divine  truth  was  poured  into  my 
heart.  Then  burned  the  flame  of  devotion  in  my  soul  and 
gushing  tears  flowed  from  my  eyes,  as  well  they  might."  Such 
music  goes  down  into  the  memory  as  dew  sinks  into  the  heart 
of  a  rose,  giving  refreshment  and  gaining  sweetness. 

The  hymns  which  never  wear  out,  are  those  which  are  rich  in 
evangelical  truth,  expressed  in  the  language  of  true  poetry,  and 
yet  for  the  masses  hymns  made  up  chiefly  of  chorus  are  often 
the  most  effective.  There  may  be  little  connection  between  the 
hymn  and  the  chorus,  so  far  as  the  thought  is  concerned.  It 
does  not  matter.  The  chorus  may  contain  but  a  single  truth. 
It  is  all  the  better  for  that.  That  one  idea  is  worked  into, 
sung  into  the  mind  and  heart  by  repetition,  and  thus  the  chorus 
is  more  effective  than  the  hymn.     Take  this  for  example  : 

"  There  is  life  for  a  look  at  the  Crucified  One, 
There  is  life  at  this  moment  for  thee." 


Or  this : 


"  O,  depth  of  mercy  !  can  it  be 
That  gate  was  left  ajar  for  me  ?" 


All  through  the  week  such  a  refrain  runs  through  the  mem- 
ory; to  the  man  on  the  scaffold  of  the  house  he  is  building,  to 
the  driver  of  the  tram-car,  to  the  woman  bending  over  her 
needle,  the  words  return : 

"  O,  depth  of  mercy  !  can  it  be 
That  gate  was  left  ajar  for  me  ?  " 

Hymns  of  worship  are  to  be  preferred  to  didactic  hymns, 
and  yet  one  expression  concerning  the  worth  of  the  soul  or 
the  preciousness  of  the  Saviour  may  awaken  conviction  or  th  e 
hope  of  pardon  and  lead  that  soul  to  Christ. 

A  solo  is  out  of  place  in  congregational  worship,  and  yet  in 
this  very  city  I  saw  hundreds  in  tears  as  Mr,  Sankey  sang  one 
years  ago  in  the  Wanamaker  building. 

Then,  how  with  what  care  the  preacher  to  such  an  audience 
must  select  his  themes.  How  natural  must  be  his  manner, 
how  patient,  earnest,  tender,  must  be  his  spirit,  and  if  he  hopes 


85 

to  secure  attention  at  all,  liow  simple  must  be  his  style,  how 
full  of  illustrations  drawn  from  common  life,  that  his  sermons 
may  be  intelligible  from  end  to  end.  A  minister  once  rose  to 
address  one  of  the  most  ignorant  audiences  ever  gathered. 
His  first  sentence  was  this:  "As  in  physics  so  in  ethics  like 
causes  produce  like  effects!"  Of  course  his  hearers  did  not 
know  even  in  what  language  he  was  speaking.  How  different 
would  have  been  the  introduction  had  Whitefield  been  the 
preacher,  or  Archibald  Alexander,  or  Spurgeon,  or  any  of 
God's  chosen  sons  anointed  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor 
aud  to  move  the  multitude  as  the  trees  of  the  wood  shaken  by 
mighty  winds. 

The  evangelization  of  our  cities — the  conquest  of  the  whole 
country  for  Christ — in  such  a  work  and  for  such  a  consumma- 
tion our  two  Assemblies  join  hands  and  hearts  to-day.  Our 
two  Assemblies : 

"  They  are  not  one,  and  j'et  not  two, 
But  look  alike,  as  sisters  do." 

They  have  one  Father,  one  glad  mission,  one  great  hope. 
Together  they  may  join  in  Milton's  adoring  invocation  : 

"  Come  out  of  Thy  royal  chambers,  0  Prince  of  all  the 
kings  of  the  earth.  Put  on  the  visible  robes  of  Thy  majesty  ; 
take  up  that  unlimited  sceptre  which  Thy  Almighty  Father 
hath  bequeathed  to  Thee ;  for  now  the  voice  of  Thy  bride 
calls  Thee,  and  all  creatures  sigh  to  be  renewed." 


PREACHING  TO  THE  MASSES. 


By  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Niccolls,  D.D., 
Sf.  Louis,  Mo. 


THEEE  are  two  facts  whicli  give  special  importance  to  the 
consideration  of  this  theme.  The  first  is,  that  preach- 
ing is  the  chief  instrumentality  chosen  by  Christ  for  the 
extension  of  His -kingdom.  The  great  commission  given  to 
the  Church,  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  solemnity  by  her 
Eedeemer  and  Lord,  reads,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature."  God  has  established  the  min- 
istry of  the  Word,  and  it  has  pleased  Him,  by  the  foolishness 
of  preaching,  to  save  them  that  believe.  So  far  as  the  edifica- 
tion of  believers  and  the  extension  of  the  Church  are  con- 
cerned, it  outranks  in  importance  the  holy  sacraments.  Paul 
evidently  so  rated  it,  for  he  says,  in  writing  to  the  Corinthi- 
ans, "  I  thank  God  that  I  baptized  none  of  you,  save  Crispus 
and  Gains ;  for  Christ  sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach 
the  Gospel."  "Whenever  the  Church  begins  to  attribute 
greater  importance  to  the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  or 
to  ritual  of  any  kind,  than  it  does  to  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  it  is  manifestly  departing  from  the  apostolic  rule.  The 
Gospel  may,  indeed,  be  helpfully  presented  to  the  eye.  Asso- 
ciation quickens  memory,  and  rites  and  ceremonies  are  sugges- 
tive ;  but  they  are  all  inferior  in  power  to  the  voice  of  the 
living,  redeemed  soul.  Speech  is  the  chief  human  agency 
chosen  by  God  for  the  proclamation  of  His  grace.  Kobes  and 
ritual,  lights  and  crucifixes,  processions  and  the  laying  on  of 
hands,  water,  bread  and  wine  are  more  than  useless  if  they 
make  the  Church  forget  or  underrate  the  great  command,  Qo 
•preach. 

2.  The  second  fact  giving  importance  to  my  theme  is,  that 
the  masses,  the  great  multitudes,  not  only  in  heathen  coun- 
tries, but  also  in  our  own  land,  are  not  directly  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Gospel  preaching.  We,  as  believers,  have  a  right 
to  be  optimistic  in  our  faith,  not  only  because  of  the  sure 
promises  of  our  Lord  with  reference  to  the  success  of  the  Gos- 
pel, but  also  in  view  of  what  has  already  been  accomplished. 
But  it  would  be  an  act  of  folly  to  persuade  ourselves  that  the 


87 

buildings  in  which  the  Gospel  is  statedly  preached,  hold,  or  are 
frequented  by  the  masses  of  the  people.  We  cannot  shut  our 
eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  non-church-goers  are  still  largely  in  the 
majority.  Reliable  statistics  show  that  in  the  country  one- 
half  of  the  population  does  not  attend  church,  and  in  the  lar- 
ger towns  and  cities  the  disproportion  is  even  greater.  We 
well  know  that  the  church-goers  are  in  the  minority,  and  also 
that  the  great  body  of  those  who  compose  what  are  called  the 
working- classes,  are  absent  from  the  house  of  God ;  and  this 
class  is  much  the  larger  one  in  any  community. 

Here,  then,  are  two  facts :  Preaching  is  the  great  and  di- 
vinely-appointed instrumentality  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
world,  and  around  us  are  the  masses  who  will  not  come  to 
hear  it.  The  church  bells  ring,  the  doors  are  opened,  the  in- 
vitation has  been  sent  abroad  through  the  daily  press ;  but, 
for  every  one  that  enters  the  church  door,  two  pass  by.  What 
is  to  be  done  ?  The  shortest  reply  is,  "  Go  preach."  Per- 
haps it  is  the  best.  Certainly,  it  is  the  divine  and  imperative 
command.  But  still  the  question  reverts,  "  How  is  it  to  be 
done  ?"  This  is  the  great  practical  question  for  lis  as  a  Church 
and  as  ministers  of  the  Word.  Perhaps  we  tail  because  we 
are  the  slaves  of  system.  We  have  been  brought  up  to  do 
our  work  in  certain  channels  and  insist  on  keeping  within 
them.  In  the  beautiful  lakes  of  the  Adirondacks  there  are 
two  methods  of  fishing.  One  is  called  "  buoy  fishing."  The 
plan  is  to  select  what  is  called  a  good  location  and  anchor 
there  a  float,  or  buoy.  Then  choice  bait  is  thrown  out  around 
the  buoy,  the  object  being  to  attract  the  fish  and  get  them  in 
the  habit  of  coming  to  that  locality  to  feed.  Once,  or  perhaps 
twice,  a  day,  at  a  stated  time,  the  fisher  comes  in  his  boat,  casts 
down  his  line  and  hook  and  waits  for  a  bite.  Sometimes,  after 
patient  waiting,  he  catches  a  few  fish,  and  sometimes  none. 
But  each  day  through  the  season,  morning  and  evening,  he 
comes  there,  expecting  the  fish  to  come  also.  The  other 
method  is  to  take  rod  and  line  and  bait  and  go  out  to  find  the  fish 
in  the  pools  or  spring-holes,  or  feeding  grounds,  where  they  are 
wont  to  congregate,  and  then,  with  caution  and  skill,  the  fisher- 
man makes  his  cast  and  with  excitement  and  joy  gathers  in  his 
spoil,  if  so  be  he  is  successful  in  finding  it.  The  first  of  these 
is  the  method  which  we,  as  fishers  of  men,  have  generally 
adopted.  We  select  a  good  location  and  "  bait  it  well ;"  that 
is  to  say,  we  make  it  as  attractive  as  possible,  so  as  to  induce 
men  to  come  there.  Then  we  do  our  preaching,  and  by  pa- 
tience and  watchfulness  manage  to  secure  some  for  Christ.  In 
this  method  we  expect  men  to  find  us.  The  other  plan  would 
lead  us  to  go  out  and  find  men.  It  would  send  us  into  their 
homes  and  pla-ces  of  business  in  order  to  fish  for  souls.     It 


88 

would  set  us  to  preacliing  in  the  streets,  in  halls  and  theatres — 
in  short,  wherever  Ave  could  find  men.  The  genius  of  one 
method  cries,  "Come  to  church  and  hear  the  Gospel ;"  the  genius 
of  the  other  says,  "  Go  out  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature  and  compel  them  to  come  in."  "Which  is  the  better 
method?  An  Adirondack  fisherman  would  say,  "We  catch 
heavier  weight  and  larger  fish  at  the  buoy,  but  more  fish  by 
going  where  they  naturally  congregate.  We  use  both  meth- 
ods." But  souls  do  not  count  by  weight  or  size.  The  soul  of 
a  "tramp"  is  just  as  precious  in  God's  sight  as  the  soul  of  a 
millionaire.  The  divine  purpose  in  the  preaching  of  the  cross 
is  not  to  secure  what  society  calls  its  best,  but  to  bring  to  every 
creature,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  the  offer  of  eternal  life 
through  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  to  tell  the  poor,  the  lost,  the  men 
whom  the  world  despises,  how  great  they  may  become 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But,  unhappily,  we  do  not 
always  "  fish  "  in  accordance  with  this  principle.  We,  as 
fishers  of  men,  like  to  catch  "  big  fish."  There  is  more  joy 
in  the  ordinary  church  over  one  millionaire  converted  than 
over  ninety-and-nine  persons  who  are  of  no  special  account  in 
the  world.  One  thing  is  certain,  there  must  be  a  higher  ap- 
preciation of  the  value  of  the  individuals  who  compose  the 
masses  before  there  can  be  the  highest  degree  of  success 
in  preaching  to  them.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  de- 
crying or  undervaluing  the  present  method  of  preaching  in 
buildings  set  apart  for  religious  uses.  I  can  imagine  no 
greater  calamity  to  a  community  than  the  closing  of  these 
places  for  public  and  stated  worship.  A  deserted,  unoccupied 
church  building  has  something  indescribably  pathetic  about 
it.  It  seems  to  stand  like  a  weeping  Jeremiah,  uttering  day 
and  night  its  lamentations  over  the  unbelief,  indifference  and 
carnality  of  the  people  who  live  around  it.  The  material 
building  is  itself  a  preacher  to  the  masses,  whether  men  will 
hear  or  forbear  to  hear  its  constant  though  silent  testimony. 
Instead  of  fewer  church  buildings  we  should  have  more,  until 
they  stand  in  every  quarter,  the  visible  monuments  of  the 
claims  of  God  -upon  the  worship  of  men,  and  offering  to  all 
free  instruction  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

But  have  we  not,  as  teachers  and  preachers  of  the  Gospel, 
confined  our  efforts  too  exclusively  to  one  method?  May  we 
not  in  some  cases  have  vexed  our  souls  too  long  over  a  little 
company  of  self-indulgent  saints  whose  real,  though  not  openly 
avowed  desire,  was  to  build  up  a  religious  society  of  a  certain 
social  rank,  instead  of  seeking  men  who  were  as  ignorant  of 
the  Gospel  as  the  Athenians  to  whom  Paul  preached  on  Mars' 
Hill.  The  anxiety  of  church  officers  as  to  what  would  be- 
come of  their  little  local  church  if  it  should  be  closed  occa- 


89 

sionally  on  Sunday  evening,  has  hindered  the  pastor  from  en- 
gaging in  missionary  labors  that  might  have  resulted  largely 
in  the  conversion  of  souls,  through  the  preaching  of  the  Word 
to  those,  who  as  yet  will  not  come  to  the  sanctuary,  but  who 
can  be  gathered  together  in  other  places.     But  whatever  be 
the  reasons,  it  is  certain  that  our  present  method  has  resulted 
in  securing  the  attendance  of  a  class,  instead  of  the  masses,  in 
our  Protestant  Churches.     We  find  there  a  large  number  of 
what  is  known  as  the  well-to-do  class,  but  a  correspondingly 
small  portion  of  the  humble  and  laboring  class,  and  these  con- 
stitute the  masses  of  the  people.     This  condition  of  affairs  has 
been  used  by  some  as  furnishing  the  evidence  that  the  Church 
is  lacking  in  power  and  aggressiveness,  and  as  demonstrating 
that  Protestants  cannot  be  successful  with  the  common  people. 
Others  triumphantly  point  to  it,  as  a  proof  that  Christianity 
itself  is  in  its  decay,  and  that  it  must  be  supplanted  by  a  new 
rational   religion.     But   neither   of  these   inferences  is   true. 
Deplorable  as  the  present  condition  is,  it  is  not  strictly  correct 
to  speak   of  it  as  the  estrangement  of  the  masses  from  the 
Church.     Estrangement  implies  a  previous  relation  of  har- 
mony   and   friendship.     There   is   undoubtedly  among   non- 
church-goers  a  large  number  of  persons  who  have  forsaken 
the  ordinances  of  God's  house.     But  those  who  wait  regularly 
upon  the  ministrations  of  the  Word,  have  never  been  in  the 
majority.     In  certain  localities  the  contrary  may  be  true,  but 
it  is  not  so  with  reference  to  the  country  at  large.     This  rela- 
tion of  the  masses  to  the  Church  is  no  new  one,  nor  is  it  to  be 
taken  as  an  evidence  that  nothing  has  been  done  to  reach  them. 
The  fact  is,  whether  associated  directly  with  the  Church  or 
not,  they  have  been  in  certain  directions  most  powerfully  af- 
fected by  the  Gospel,  and  never  more  so  than  to-day.     They 
are  not  as  the  masses  of  men  in  countries  where  it  is  not 
preached.     That  Gospel  has  uplifted  them  and  set  them  to 
thinking.     They  are  in  possession  of  some  of  its  great  and 
quickening   truths.     They  see,  it  may  be  as  the  half  cured 
blind  man,  who  saw  men  as  trees  walking,  but  still  they  see, 
"  Upon  them  that  sat  in  darkness  a  light  has  sinned."     The 
divine  leaven  which  Jesus  brought  and  placed  upon  men  is 
working.     The  Gospel  ideas  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and 
the  brotherhood  of  man  are  affecting  the  world's  labor  as  well 
as  its  wealth.     The  masses  are  no  longer  inert  or  slavishly 
submissive.     They  show  a  genius  for  organization,  and  organi- 
zation is  the  first  manifestation  of  life.     These  are  the  days, 
not  for  the  few,  but  for  the  people.     Their  hour  has  come. 

But  all  this  makes  the  duty  of  preaching  to  the  masses  more 
urgent  and  important.  Half  truths  in  possession  of  the  mul- 
titudes, awakening  and  exciting  them,  will  make  them  all  the 


90 

more  dangerous  and  destructive  in  their  movements.  They 
produce  fanaticism,  strife,  alienation  and  unrest.  Those  who 
see  their  fellows  as  "  trees  walking  "  are  sure  to  act  unwisely 
and  disorderly.  It  is  well  for  us  to  reflect  that  many  of  the 
so-called  perils  that  threaten  not  only  our  civilization,  but  the 
Church,  come  from  the  aroused  and  half-Christianized  masses. 
The  Gospel  has  brought  them  political  freedom.  It  has  made 
them  conscious  of  their  rights  and  power.  We  have  awakened 
the  sleeping  giant,  and  what  shall  we  do  ?  Teach  him,  or  let 
him  in  his  fury  and  blindness  destroy  us  ?  In  the  political 
world  we  have  committed  ourselves  to  universal  suffrage,  and 
it  is  too  late  to  retrace  our  steps.  We  must  go  through  with 
what  we  have  undertaken,  or  perish.  So  alsoinspiritual  mat- 
ters; by  means  of  education,  which  we  have  demanded  for  all, 
we  have  cut  the  fetters  of  ignorance  which  held  the  masses  in 
bondage  to  ecclesiastical  despotism.  In  the  name  of  Christ  we 
have  let  in  the  light,  and  the  world  is  astir  as  never  before. 
What  noise  and  tumult!  What  ferment  and  unrest!  It  is  too 
late  to  undo  our  work ;  we  must  go  on.  But  there  is  no  use 
in  standing  pani  c-stricken  at  the  result.  We  have  a  power  at 
hand  which  can  bring  order  out  of  confusion.  The  remedy  for 
what  the  Gospel  has  done  is  just  this,  more  Gospel.  The 
critical  character  of  the  hour  demands  that  it  should  be 
preached  with  renewed  earnestness  and  faithfulness  in  all  its 
fullness.  If  this  is  done,  in  some  way  we  shall  yet  reach  the 
millennium  ;  if  not,  our  darkest  days  are  before  us. 

The  work  then  is  urgent,  but  how  shall  it  be  done?  What 
is  the  true  ideal  of  preaching  to  the  masses?  Our  ideals  shape 
our  conduct  and  striving,  and  perhaps  we  are  trammeled  or 
misled  by  some  false  ones.  Is  not  the  common  conception  of 
this  work  that  which  has  its  realization  in  some  popular 
preacher  who  gathers  round  him  an  immense  audience  in  his 
huge  tabernacle  ?  Spurgeon,  Talmage  and  Moody  preach  to 
the  masses,  and  we  must  try  to  do  as  they  do,  or  the  ideal  will 
not  be  realized.  The  minister  who  crowds  his  church  is 
preaching  to  the  masses,  but  the  one  who  has  the  pews  only 
half  full  does  not!  That  is  to  say,  the  man  who  preaches  to 
three  hundred  souls  has  just  reason  to  condemn  himself  as  a 
class  preacher,  but  when  his  audience  reaches  a  thousand,  he 
can  pat  himself  on  the  head  and  say,  "  Now  I  am  preaching  to 
the  masses."  If  God  had  made  all  ministers  Whitfields  and 
Spurgeons,  and  intended  that  they  should  be  exactly  like 
them  in  the  exercise  of  their  gifts,  it  would  be  well  to  keep 
this  ideal  in  mind.  But  somehow  the  Luthers,  the  Whitfields 
and  Spurgeons  are  not  very  plentiful.  One  or  two  in  a  cen- 
tury are  all  that  appear.  And  it  does  seem  as  if  the  world's 
greatest  need  was  not  a  few  illustrious  preachers  attracting 


91 

crowds  by  the  splendor  of  their  gifts,  but  rather  a  multitude 
of  common  ones  doing  their  work,  according  to  their  several 
ability,  in  all  faithfulness  and  earnestness.  All  honor  to  the 
gifted  men  who  preach  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  to  the 
thousands  who  gather  to  hear  them.  I  would  not  be  under- 
stood as  in  any  way  depreciating  the  greatness  of  their  work. 
But  there  is  danger  of  limiting  our  ideals  of  preaching  to  the 
masses  to  this  method.  Have  we  not  a  more  complete  pat- 
tern in  one,  Paul,  who  preached  in  Ephesus  with  no  small 
degree  of  success  to  the  masses.  He  whites  concerning  his 
method  of  labor,  "Ye  know  after  what  manner  I  have  been 
with  you  at  all  seasons,  and  have  taught  you  publicly  and 
from  house  to  house."  The  minister  who  rates  the  import- 
ance of  preaching  the  Gospel  simply  by  the  size  of  his  audience 
is  using  a  false  standard  of  valuation.  Vast  audiences  may 
minister  to  a  preacher's  vanity,  and  numbers  lead  us  to  dis- 
credit the  no  less  important  work  that  is  done  in  an  humble 
and  unobtrusive  way.  The  pastor  who  faithfully  and  pa- 
tiently instructs  a  comparatively  small  church,  so  that  its 
members  abound  in  good  works,  may  be  doing  more  efficient 
work  in  preaching  to  the  masses  than  the  popular  preacher 
whose  ministrations  attract  the  crowd,  Paul  wrote  concern- 
ing the  little  church  of  the  Thessalonians,  "  From  you  sounded 
out  the  Word  of  the  Lord  not  only  in  Macedonia  and  Achaia, 
but  also  in  every  place  your  faith  to  God  ward  is  spread  abroad  ; 
so  that  we  need  not  to  speak  anything."  That  was  effective 
preaching  to  the  masses,  and  it  seems  to  me  it  is  the  kind  we 
specially  need  in  these  days,  for  they  are  to  be  reached,  not  so 
much  directly  through  the  ministry  as  through  the  whole 
Church.  The  notion  widely  prevalent  is  that  we  need  popular 
preachers  and  monster  meetings  to  move  the  masses.  Yet  men 
are  not  converted  as  masses,  but  as  individuals,  and  God  does 
not  mean  to  give  all  the  glory  of  establishing  His  kingdom  to 
a  few  individuals  more  gifted  than  their  brethren.  We  like 
heroes  and  leaders  and  great  men ;  they  have  their  uses.  But 
if  this  is  not  a  world  for  the  average  man,  a  great  many  of  us 
have  no  reason  to  remain  in  it  or  to  continue  our  work. 
Instead  of  trying  to  multiply  the  audience  for  one  preacher, 
we  had  better  try  to  multiply  the  preachers.  Set  more  men 
to  work  to  reach  the  masses  with  the  Gospel.  Many  little 
nets  will  catch  more  fish  than  one  or  two  great  ones.  The 
recorded  ministry  of  Jesus  and  his  apostles  gives  us  full  instruc- 
tion on  this  point.  They  had  the  masses  to  reach,  and  we 
know  how  they  did  it.  When  the  opportunity  presented 
itself,  Jesus  preached  to  the  multitude  and  the  common  people 
heard  him  gladly  !  But  some  of  his  most  successful  preach- 
ing, and  far-reaching  in  its  results,  was  done  to  an  audience  of 


92 

one,  Andrew  did  good  work  for  the  masses  when  he  found 
Peter  and  told  him  about  Jesus.  The  Holj  Spirit  records 
how  PhiHp  stirred  the  city  of  Samaria  by  his  preaching.  But 
side  by  side  with  that  account  he  records  at  greater  length 
how  Philip  preached  Jesus  to  one  man,  the  Ethiopian 
eunuch.  Let  us  remember  that  the  Gospel  comes  as  a  personal 
message.  It  is  addressed  not  to  great  masses,  but  to  "  every 
creature."  It  individualizes  men,  and  that  method  which 
most  clearly  recognizes  this  fact  will  be  the  one  best  adapted 
to  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  masses.  Until  the  minister 
knows  how  to  appeal  to  one  man  in  behalf  of  the  Gospel  he 
will  not  know  how  to  preach  to  the  crowd.  Indeed,  strictly 
speaking,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  preaching  His  Gospel  to 
the  masses.  It  must  mean  masses  or  collections  of  individuals, 
or  the  "work  is  vain. 

1.  In  considering  the  various  means  by  which  this  preach- 
ing is  to  be  accomplished,  we  must  place,  first  and  foremost, 
the  ordained  ministry.  This  is  of  God's  appointment.  His 
adaptation  of  means  to  an  end,  and  it  must  not  be  set  aside  or 
supplanted  by  other  instrumentalities.  The  power  of  conse- 
crated men,  specially  called  and  trained  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
is  abundantly  illustrated  in  the  past.  Christ  used  it,  and  the 
triumphs  of  the  Church  proclaim  its  efficiency.  We  need  for 
this  grand  ministry,  not  weaklings,  but  men  of  power;  not 
ignorant  men,  but  men  of  brain  and  culture,  and  at  the  same 
time,  men  of  true  genuine  manhood  in  thorough  sympathy 
with  their  fellows.  Above  all,  we  must  have  preachers  who 
know  the  Gospel  thoroughly,  through  their  own  experience; 
who  believe  in  it  because  it  has  saved  them,  and  who  for  this 
reason  can  preach  it  with  the  accent  of  conviction.  A  culti- 
vated and  intelligent  ministry  is  the  one  that  the  Church  needs 
to-day  for  the  best  and  most  efficient  prosecution  of  its  evan- 
gelism. There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  ministry  for  the  times, 
and  it  must  respect  the  demands  of  the  hour,  not  in  the  base 
sense  of  catering  to  the  pleasures  of  men,  and  conforming  to 
the  craze  of  the  day,  but  in  the  noble  sense  of  speaking 
through  the  advancing  thought  and  growing  culture  of  men, 
to  their  deepest  needs.  The  average  of  intelligence  among 
the  people  is  higher  now  than  it  was  a  century  ago.  Our 
system  of  common  schools  and  the  omnipresent  press  have 
educated  the  masses  to  think  for  themselves.  No  parrot-like 
utterances  of  traditionalism,  or  decrees  of  Church  authority,  or 
frothy  exhortations  will  meet  their  needs.  In  one  view  the 
ministry  must  be  the  same  through  all  ages.  It  has  the  same 
changeless  Gospel  to  preach,  the  same  deep  and  changeless 
needs  of  lost  and  guilty  men  to  keep  in  view,  the  same  results 
to  effect,  and  the  same  instrumentalities  by  which  to  accom- 


93 

plish  them.  The  minister  of  to-daj  must  preach  as  Paul  and 
Chrysostom  and  Augustine  and  Luther  and  Knox  and  Wes- 
ley did.  And  yet  not  the  same.  He  must  preach  in  view  of 
the  present  condition  of  the  masses,  and  the  changes  which 
free  inquiry  and  enlarged  knowledge  have  brought.  Certain 
it  is,  that  in  view  of  the  ever-rising  standard  of  culture  among 
the  people,  our  American  Church  has  far  more  reason  to  be 
anxious  about  the  increase  of  educated  and  properly  trained  men 
for  the  ministry,  than  for  the  relaxation  of  her  standard  of  edu- 
cation in  order  to  ordain  men  of  inferior  culture.  True,  there 
is  an  urgent  demand  for  more  men,  but  the  efficient  remedy  is 
not  in  hastily  sending  out  unskilled,  half-educated  laborers, 
but  in  united  prayer  on  the  part  of  the  Church  to  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest  for  more  laborers,  and  in  consecrating  to  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  the  best  talent  in  the  Church.  Mr.  Gladstone 
has  well  said,  "  That  no  Church  can  stand  whose  priests  and 
ministers  do  not  possess  the  highest  respect  of  the  people." 
And  it  seems  to  me  that  American  Presbyterianism,  having 
steadily  and  at  no  small  sacrifice,  maintained  its  position  in 
demanding  an  educated  ministry,  and  made  ample  jDrovision 
for  securing  it,  is  now  at  the  opening  of  a  new  century  in  its 
history,  specially  prepared  to  take  an  advanced  position  in  the 
work  of  evangelism.  But  it  needs,  as  the  word  of  command 
for  its  advance,  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit  by  which  all  it  has 
of  culture  and  wealth  shall  be  consecrated  to  this  great 
work. 

2.  We  need  also  to  enlarge  the  recognized  and  official  work- 
ing force  of  the  Church.  More  men  and  women  must  be 
engaged  in  this  work  of  preaching  to  the  masses  in  various 
ways,  if  they  are  to  be  efficiently  reached  during  the  present 
generation.  One  who  has  carefully  studied  this  question, 
says,  "  The  greatest  of  our  troubles  is,  that  there  is  far  too  lit- 
tle whole-hearted,  thorough-going,  thoughtful  endeavor  put 
forth  for  the  salvation  of  the  poorer  classes."  We  must  have 
a  more  complete  and  systematic  organization  of  the  working 
power  of  the  Church,  if  we  would  meet  the  demands  of  the 
hour.  The  truth  is  that,  in  this  respect,  we  are  using  the 
methods  of  a  century  ago.  The  pastor,  with,  perhaps,  a  sal- 
aried assistant,  and  such  voluntary  services  as  he  can  com- 
mand, constitute  the  organized  aggressive  force  with  which 
the  conquest  of  the  masses  is  to  be  attempted.  At  the  best, 
only  a  small  minority  of  the  Church  is  at  work  in  this  direc- 
tion. In  addition  to  what  is  being  done  by  voluntary  agen- 
cies, we  need  Bible  readers,  teachers,  visitors,  and  missionaries, 
who  shall  be  officially  employed  and  recognized  by  the 
Church.  There  ought  to  be  a  more  discriminating  recognition 
of  the  diversity  of  gifts  which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  bestowed 


94 

upon  the  Church,  so  that  all  might  have  their  appropriate 
exercise  and  proper  growth. 

3.  We  must  aim  to  get  into  closer  sympathy  with  the  poor 
and  the  working  classes.  As  a  Church  we  stand  too  remote 
from  them.  The  natural  tendency  of  culture  and  wealth  is 
to  isolation  and  exclusiveness,  and  a  Church  abounding  in 
them  will  be  sure  to  drift  away  from  the  masses,  unless  it  is 
mightily  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  Eight  or  wrong, 
the  belief  is  widely  prevalent  that  the  Church  as  now  organ- 
ized is  more  in  sympathy  with  the  rich  than  with  the  poor. 
We  certainly  cannot  afford  to  have  this  impression  prevail, 
for  it  is  not  only  a  most  serious  hindrance  to  our  work,  but  it 
is  dishonoring  to  us  as  the  followers  of  Christ.  The  impres- 
sion made  by  His  ministry  was  that  He  was  the  special  friend 
and  benefactor  of  the  poor.  "  The  common  people  heard 
Him  gladly."  It  is  only  by  a  spirit  of  love,  sympathy,  self- 
sacrifice  and  self-denial  kindred  to  His  that  we  can  ever  reach 
the  people.  Perhaps  some  of  the  preaching  needed  in  these 
days  in  order  to  influence  the  masses  in  the  end  would  be  that 
directed  against  the  spirit  of  pride,  worldliness  and  exclusive- 
ness which  can  be  found  in  not  a  few  churches.  At  any  rate, 
in  solving  this  great  problem,  it  becomes  us  who  belong  to  the 
Church  to  have  our  own  hands  clean  and  to  see  that  nothing 
remains  in  our  midst  which  would  justify  the  alienation  of 
the  masses. 

4.  Finally,  besides  all  well- chosen  instrumentalities,  and 
vastly  more  important  than  they,  we  need  for  this  work  a  re- 
vival of  faith.  By  this  I  mean  such  an  increase  in  the  faith 
of  the  Church  as  will  bring  to  it  a  clear,  positive  and  all- 
mastering  conviction  of  the  supreme  importance  and  the 
saving  power  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  A  profounder 
faith  must  lie  at  the  foundation  of  increased  activity  and 
aggressiveness.  We  need  to  feel  that  we  can  and  ought  to 
reach  the  masses  with  the  Gospel.  We  ought  to  do  it  for 
Christ's  sake,  we  must  do  it  for  their  safety  and  our  own. 
We  read  concerning  the  early  disciples  that  when  scattered 
abroad  by  persecution  "  they  went  everywhere  preaching  the 
Word."  With  a  like  spirit  pervading  the  Church  the  prob- 
lem of  reaching  the  masses  would  soon  be  solved.  All  this 
implies  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  His  working 
mightily  on  the  Church.  It  is  a  most  significant  fact,  full  of 
instruction  for  the  present  hour,  that  all  the  great  movements 
by  which  the  Gospel  has  been  effectively  preached  to  the 
masses  have  originated  in  fresh  effusions  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
More,  then,  than  anything  else  do  we  need  this  ministry  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  in  increasing  power.  Without  it,  ministers, 
teachers,  school-books  and  tracts  are  all  useless.     We  do  well 


95 

to  use  books  and  tracts,  to  employ  teachers  and  missionaries 
and  to  send  forth  faithful  ministers,  but  above  all  we  must  be 
able  to  say,  with  the  Church  repeating  its  testimony  through 
the  ages,  "I  believe  in  the  Holy  Spirit." 

We  can  never  see  a  subject  like  this  in  its  true  light,  unless 
we  see  it  as  it  appears  to  Jesus  Christ.  Listen,  then,  to  these 
words,  so  simple,  and  yet  so  clear  and  comprehensive  in  their 
instruction :  "  And  Jesus  went  about  all  the  cities  and  villages, 
teaching  in  their  synagogues,  and  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the 
kingdom,  and  healing  every  sickness  and  every  disease  among 
the  people.  But  when  He  saw  the  multitudes  He  was  moved 
with  compassion  on  them,  because  they  fainted  and  were  scat- 
tered abroad  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd.  Then  saith  He 
unto  His  disciples,  The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the 
laborers  are  few.  Pray  ye,  therefore,  the  Lord  of  the  harvest 
that  He  will  send,  forth  laborers  into  His  harvest."  These 
golden  words  contain  the  solution  of  the  problem,  "How  are 
we  to  reach  the  masses  with  the  Gospel  ?" 


HOME   MISSIONS. 


By  Rev.  Geo.  P.  Hays,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 


THE  home  mission  field  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Church  is  a  chosen  sphere  of  providential  prepara- 
tion for  prophetic  purpose.  Its  shores  are  washed 
by  the  two  great  commercial  oceans.  Its  land  is  bisected 
by  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  trisected  by  the  Allegheny 
and  the  Eocky  mountains.  With  a  diversity  of  eleva- 
tion from  the  sea  level  to  three  thousand  feet  above  timber 
line,  and  with  a  climatic  range  from  the  tropical  to  the  high 
latitudes  of  Northern  Maine,  Montaifa  and  Alaska;  it  fur- 
nishes fit  surroundings  for  every  plant  that  is  good  for  food,  or 
shade  or  beauty — for  every  animal  that  is  useful  for  pleasure 
or  for  labor,  and  for  every  taste  and  want  of  man.  Its  inter- 
locked web  of  railroad  and  of  telegraph  makes  each  inhabi- 
tant the  next-door  neighbor  of  every  other.  The  people  of 
this  land  understand  one  language,  enjoy  one  system  of  laws, 
are  protected  by  one  government,  love  one  flag,  centre  their 
hopes  in  a  common  future  and  believe  in  a  common  Chris- 
tianity. Insignificant  minorities  may  here  and  there  dissent 
from  either  of  these,  but  in  view  of  their  diverse  origins 
this  is  a  wonderfully  homogeneous  people. 

Without  going  into  minute  details  let  us  endeavor  to  grasp 
the  leading  groups  of  its  60,000,000  of  inhabitants.  If  we  can 
correctly  comprehend  the  character  and  tendencies  of  the 
present  60,000,000,  we  can  without  much  uncertainty  deter- 
mine what  will  be  the  character  of  the  hundreds  of  millions 
which  will  be  its  population  in  the  near  future.  As  to  races, 
about  2,000,000  are  native  Indians  or  Mexicans;  8,000,000 
are  colored  people  of  the  South;  10,000,000  are  foreigners  not 
yet  Americanized,  and  the  other  40,000,000,  though  many  are 
foreign  born  or  born  of  foreign  parents,  are  English-thinking 
Americans.  As  to  the  ages  of  these  60,000,000,  one- third  are 
children  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  two-thirds  or  40.000,000 
are  adults. 

If  we  turn  now  from  race  and  age  to  the  religious  character- 
istics of  these  people,  recent  statistics  will  show  that  12,000,000 


97 

are  professing  Christians  of  the  various  evangelical  denomina- 
tions. We  may  count  about  4,000,000  more  of  their  total 
7,000,000  as  the  earnest  adults  of  the  Eomish  Church,  making 
a  total  of  about  16,000,000  or  more  than  one-third  of  the 
adult  population  of  40,000,000  in  this  country  in  direct, 
avoAs^ed  and  intentional  union  with  some  branch  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  I  do  not  call  the  Romanism  of  this  country 
identical  with  the  Romanism  of  lands  where  the  Pope  has  un- 
disputed sway.  I  should  by  no  means  rate  them  along  with 
Protestants,  but  in  this  land  of  free  Bibles,  free  schools, 
unlimited  travel,  complicated  business  relations  and  abundant 
newspapers,  no  Romanist  can  so  escape  the  knowledge  of  the 
distinction  between  Protestantism  and  Catholicism  as  to  evade 
the  responsibility  of  his  own  position.  But  even  omitting 
the  Romanists  from  the  account,  if  the  Protestant-profess- 
ing Christians  of  this  land  were  equally  distributed  among  the 
whole  population,  each  Christian  would  only  have  four  per- 
sons (and  two  of  them  children)  for  whose  information  as  to 
the  Gospel  he  would  be  responsible. 

By  the  best  available  statistics  (those  of  Dr.  Dorchester) 
there  is  now  a  Protestant  minister  for  every  692  of  our  popu- 
lation, and  a  church  for  every  518  of  that  same  population.  It 
is  thus  perfectly  obvious  that  unity  and  energy,  blessed  by  the 
spirit  of  God,  is  amply  adequate  to  hold  and  mould  this  nation 
for  God  and  His  Bible. 

This  hopeful  prospect  is  greatly  brightened  by  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  rapidity  with  which  through  the  last  one  hundred 
years  Christianity  has  been  gaining  control  in  this  land.  "When, 
one  hundred  years  ago,  the  General  Synod  dissolved  itself  and 
left  the  General  Assembly  the  Supreme  Court  of  our  Church, 
the  best  information  would  only  give  1500  ministers  then  to 
more  than  60,000  Protestant  ministers  now,  and  2000  churches 
then  to  120,000  Protestant  churches  now.  In  1880  the  com- 
municants were  only  one  in  every  fourteen  of  the  inhabitants. 
By  1886  there  was  more  than  one  communicant  to  every  five 
inhabitants.  From  1850  to  1886  the  population  increased  152 
per  cent ;  while  the  communicants  have  increased  243  per  cent. 
It  has  come  now  to  this,  that  there  are  about  as  many  minis- 
ters in  this  country  as  there  are  "saloon-keepers  and  bar- 
tenders;" the  census  of  1880  reporting  64,698  "clergymen," 
and  68,461  "  saloon-keepers  and  bar-tenders." 

The  record  of  our  Church  in  this  growth  is  a  noble  one. 
One  hundred  years  ago  the  General  Synod  represented  but  a 
small  number  of  ministers,  churches  and  church  members. 
The  revolutionary  war  was  not  so  exclusively  political  or 
financial  as  it  is  often  represented.  Along  with  the  sentiment 
that  resisted  "  taxation  without  representation,"  there  was  also 


98 

a  sentiment  that  Presbyterian  freedom  in  this  land  was  in 
grievous  danger  from  the  intolerance  of  prelacy.  The  church- 
men were  generally  Tories ;  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Congre- 
gationalists  were  mostly  patriots.  Dr.  John  "Witherspoon  in 
the  Continental  Congress  and  his  signature  to  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  a  just  symbol  of  the  attitude  of  the 
denomination  w^hich  appointed  him  to  preach  the  opening  ser- 
mon of  its  first  General  Assembly.  The  nation  tried  the 
"independent"  method  of  government  by  the  articles  of  con- 
federation. Those  articles  made  the  general  government  a 
national  council,  with  liberty  to  advise  anything  and  power 
to  enforce  nothing.  The  new  Constitution  of  Madison,  JeiJer- 
son  and  Hamilton,  which  was  adopted  by  the  States  in  that 
memorable  year,  1788,  was  simply  the  representative  repub- 
licanism of  Presbyterian  Church  government  applied  to  the 
nation.  Presbyterians  of  that  day  little  comprehended  how 
rapid  their  growth  would  be  when  the  call  of  the  battle-field 
would  give  place  to  the  call  of  the  mission-field,  and,  relieved 
of  the  distractions  of  a  disorganized  and  inefficient  govern- 
ment, they  should  be  allowed  to  take  up  their  Church  work  in 
quiet  and  in  peace,  under  the  stable  rule  of  delegated 
authority. 

In  these  figures  I  now  give  I  count  in,  not  only  the  numbers 
of  the  bodies  here  assembled  to-day,  but  the  numbers  of  that 
earnest  and  evangelical  body,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  That  Church  maintains  its  Presbyterian  form  of  gov- 
ernment and  recognizes  itself  as  an  offshoot  of  that  denomina- 
tion which  organized  the  General  Assembly  in  1788.  Here  is 
one  century's  work.  The  177  ministers  and  431  churches  and 
18,000  communicants  of  1788,  have  grown  to  8333  ministers, 
11,212  churches  and  1,007,311  communicants  now. 

It  is  often  said  that  Calvinistic  theology  destroys  all  efficient 
motives  to  good  works.  The  Home  Mission  history  of  our 
Church  in  this  land  is  an  extremely  practical  reply.  What- 
ever religion  will  convert  the  pocketbooks  of  its  church  mem- 
bers has  given  the  very  best  proof  of  the  thoroughness  of  its 
regenerating  work.  The  two  bodies  represented  here  had  last 
year  847,165  members,  and  gave,  from  1881  to  1887,  $4;865,330 
for  home  missions.  There  are  other  bodies,  with  two- and- a- 
half  times  as  many  members,  and  none  gave  within  a  million 
dollars  as  much  for  Home  Missions  in  the  same  time. 

So  when  measured  by  this  test  of  religious  charity  and 
aggressive  evangehsm,  orthodox  religion  stands  in  sharp  con- 
trast both  with  scientific  skepticism  and  the  so-called  "  liberal 
Christianity."  Prof.  Yeomans,  the  ablest  scientific  skeptic  of 
this  land  of  his  day,  was  keenly  alive  to  this  proof  of  the  power 
of  Bible  religion.     He  said,    "  While   there  are   $54,000,000 


invested  in  churches  in  Kew  York  City,  if  there  is  a  scientific 
society  in  New  York  that  owns  a  roof  or  a  shelter  I  do  not 
know  of  it.  Religious  people  everywhere  are  pouring  out 
their  money  in  behalf  of  all  manner  of  religious  enterprises  in 
quantities  that  are  without  precedent,  and  that  we  take  it  as 
very  solid  proof  in  this  money-grabbing  age  of  the  reality  of 
their  faith  and  the  intensity  of  their  enthusiasm."  So  Uni- 
tarians and  Universalists  and  those  odds  and  ends  of  ministers 
and  churches,  that  claim  the  curious  name  of  "liberals"  in 
religion,  set  themselves  forward  as  having  a  monopoly  of 
"  advanced  religious  thought."  The  peculiar  character  of 
their  advancement  is  singularly  illustrated  in  their  movement 
as  to  number  of  churches  as  compared  with  the  number  of 
evangelical  churches  from  1850  to  1886.  In  1850  the  evan- 
gelical churches  numbered  about  40,000  congregations,  and 
those  of  these  so-called  liberal  Christians  numbered  about 
1300.  In  1886  the  evangelical  churches  had  increased  to  over 
120,000  congregations  and  the  liberal  congregations  were 
twenty-six  less  than  they  were  in  1850.  Their  adoption  of  the 
name  "liberal"  Christians  is  a  curious  illustration  of  how  a 
people  can  select,  as  the  descriptive  adjective  in  their  name, 
the  one  conspicuous  adjective  that  gathers  in  itself  the  bit- 
terest irony  in  the  light  of  their  conduct.  If  "  liberal  Chris- 
tianity "  has  an  organization  for  either  Home  or  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, its  officers  are  unknown  to  the  public;  but  evangelical 
Christianity  has  during  the  current  century  contributed  quite 
$100,000,000  for  Home  Missions  alone,  not  to  say  anything  of 
$75,000,000  more  contributed  to  Foreign  Missions.  The 
patrons  of  liberal  Christianity  and  advanced  thought,  to  save 
their  money  in  the  way  of  establishing  educational  institutions, 
began  the  century  by  stealing  Harvard  University,  and  are 
closing  the  century  by  stealing  Andover  Seminary. 

The  Presbyterian  denominations  here  represented  have 
always  been  in  the  very  forefront  in  Home  Mission  effort. 
Eecord  of  earnestness  is  found  in  the  earliest  minutes  that  are 
extant  of  the  first  Presbytery,  for  in  1707  it  is  enjoined  that 
"every  minister  of  the  Presbytery  supply  neighboring  desolate 
places."  The  subject  was  before  the  First  General  Assembly, 
for  it  called  on  the  Synods  to  recommend  suitable  missionaries, 
and  the  next  Assembly,  in  1790,  appointed  Nathan  Ker  and 
Joshua  Hart  as  missionaries  to  labor  for  three  months  for 
$100  each.  So  it  went  on  growing  till  1802,  when  a  "stand- 
ing committee"  was  appointed.  It  has  now  reached  magnifi- 
cent proportions,  in  work  for  Home  ^fissions,  Freedmen, 
Evangelistic  work,  Sabbath-school  and  Publication,  Church 
Erection,  etc.  Last  year,  to  the  various  organizations  engaged 
in  one  or  other' form  of  Home  Missionary  work,  our  845,167 


100 

members  gave  $1,052,944  in  money,  or  an  amount  equal  to 
$1.24^  per  member,  and  tbis  too  wben  tbe  amount  given  per 
member  bj  evangelical  Christians  to  Home  Missions  is  an 
average  of  only  thirty-tbree  cents  per  member. 

But  it  will  be  said  tbat  the  explanation  of  all  this  is  found 
in  the  failure  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  its  Home  Mission 
work  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  ignorant  and  the  poor.  Such 
a  statement,  however,  entirely  overlooks  the  real  difiiculty  the 
Presbyterian  Church  meets  in  preaching  to  the  ignorant  and 
the  poor.  The  real  difficulty  is  that  the  ignorant  do  not  stay 
ignorant  under  such  preaching,  and  the  poor  when  converted 
and  educated  will  not  stay  poor.  Calvinism  is  a  coherent  sys- 
tem of  logical  doctrine  and  is  developed  by  rational  and  con- 
sistent study  of  the  word  of  God  as  God's  word.  Every 
sermon  is  an  education.  All  its  thought  tends  to  vigorous 
intellectual  development.  The  study  of  the  Shorter  Catechism 
is  a  first- class  mental  gymnastic.  Suck  preaching,  such  books 
and  such  newspapers,  together  with  the  persistent  study  of 
God's  word  in  the  Sabbath -school  and  in  the  home  will  thor- 
oughly cure  the  ignorance  of  those  that  are  under  such  influ- 
ences. 

So  in  the  cities  and  in  the  country  the  Gospel  is  preached 
throughout  the  poorer  districts  by  Presbyterian  missionaries, 
Sunday-school  workers  and  godly  men  and  women.  If  now 
the  converts  of  these  regions  would  stay  poor,  we  would  get 
credit  for  what  we  are  doing.  But  the  theology  which  re- 
quires of  converts  that  they  should  persevere  in  religious  con- 
duct, whether  man  sees  them  or  not,  and  solely  from  the 
motive  of  heartfelt  love  to  a  Redeemer,  makes  young  men 
and  women  worth  more  in  the  commercial  market  on  account 
of  their  integrity.  It  makes  them  energetic,  economical  and 
thrifty.  As  a  result  in  every  large  city  and,  to  no  small  ex- 
tent, also  in  the  rural  districts,  there  is  a  steady  stream  flowdng 
from  these  sections  where  the  Gospel  is  preached  to  the  poor, 
to  those  districts  where  those  have  settled  who  have  accumu- 
lated property.  What  is  needed  is  simply  that  those  who  owe 
wealth  and  intelligence  to  Presbyteria:?.  inspiration  and  cul- 
ture should  not  forget  the  "  rock  whence  they  were  hewn,  nor 
the  hole  of  the  pit  whence  tk:;/  were  digged,"  but  in  their 
prosperity  stand  by  with  their  bounty  the  churches  and  mis- 
sions where  they  first  were  found  by  the  Saviour. 

If  from  this  survey  of  the  past  any  should  inquire  as  to  the 
forces  to  be  relied  on  for  the  future,  j^cist  victories  are  an  ar)iple 
ansiver.  Now  the  tide  is  all  in  our  favor.  One  hundred  years 
ago  French  sympathy  in  the  revolution  made  atheism  popular, 
and  this  century  opened  with  a  sharp  struggle  l^etween  skepti- 
cism and  formalism  on  the  one  side  and  Home  Mission  revivals 


101 

on  the  other.  The  future  probably  has  not  for  American 
Christianity  another  conflict  under  such  disadvantages.  In 
this  connection  it  is  important  not  to  overlook  two  collateral 
forces  which  have  substantially  come  into  being  within  the 
last  century,  and  are  sure  to  play  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
next.  Both  will  be  either  allies  or  enemies  of  the  Church, 
and  will  be  affected  by  the  Church  and  powerfully  influence 
the  work  of  the  Church. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  American  free  school.  Puritans 
and  Presbyterians  one  hundred  years  ago  planted  the  school 
beside  the  Church  ;  and  out  of  this  determination  of  their 
people  to  educate  their  children  grew  that  unique  thing,  the 
American  Public  School  System.  Of  course,  it  is  not  now  all 
that  it  should  be.  Justifying  its  taxation  of  the  childless  rich 
on  the  plea  that  it  proposes  to  make  the  children  of  this  gen- 
eration good  citizens  in  the  next,  it  yet  with  ludicrous  incon- 
sistency for  want  of  compulsory  attendance  leaves  the  children 
of  the  dangerous  classes  to  grow  up  without  education.  And 
to  keep  up  the  consistency  of  its  inconsistency,  while  admitting 
that  mere  secular  knowledge  without  morality  only  makes 
criminals  more  skillful,  the  American  free  school  sets  itself  up 
as  worthy  of  support  by  taxation,  because  it  teaches  morality 
while  excluding  from  its  text-books  that  only  standard  oi 
American  morals,  the  Christian  Bible.  That  Bible  ought  to 
be  put  back  into  these  schools.  But,  without  being  blind  to 
these  defects,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  250,000  teachers 
of  this  land  are  as  a  mass  people  whose  oral  instructions  and 
whose  lives  enforce  genuine  Christian  morals.  They  may  not 
formally  teach  the  Bible,  but  we  ought  to  be  profoundly 
thankful  that  to  so  large  an  extent  they  live  it  and  assume  its 
truth.  Neither  in  the  large  cities  nor  in  the  most  secluded 
backwoods  district  is  it  possible  for  teachers  of  known  corrupt 
life  and  character  to  maintain  their  position.  The  licentious, 
the  profane  and  the  vulgar  are  by  public  opinion  absolutely 
excluded  from  this  work  of  training  the  children.  As  a  result 
the  Church  is  relieved  from  the  expense  of  a  large  part  of  this 
educational  work,  and  in  its  religious  labors  starts  far  in  ad- 
vance of  what  it  otherwise  could  do.  These  250,000  American 
school-teachers  are  efficient  allies  in  the  maintenance  of  virtue 
and  the  establishment  of  the  truth,  and  ought  to  have  our 
incessant  prayers. 

In  1800  there  were  not  more  than  200  secular  newspapers 
in  this  country,  and  not  a  single  religious  newspaper  till  sixteen 
years  later.  At  present  this  is  the  land  of  great  dailies,  multi- 
tudinous weeklies,  diversified  monthly  magazines  and  ponder- 
ous quarterlies.  Undoubtedly  the  secular  press  of  this  country 
is  very  far  from  what  it  ought  to  be.     By  its  Sunday  editions 


102 

and  its  superabundance  of  sensational,  blood-curdling  accounts 
of  crime  it  is  responsible  for  a  great  deal  of  vice.  On  the 
other  hand,  however,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  though 
newspapers  may  differ  as  to  the  actual  character  of  public  men 
and  institutions,  they  do  not  seriously  differ  in  their  standard 
of  morality.  Lying,  fraud,  dishonesty,  profanity,  licentious- 
ness and  all  such  evils  are  almost  universally  denounced  and 
exposed.  Not  a  few  of  these  papers  may  indirectly  undermine 
public  morals,  but  probably  none  of  them  will  avow  such  a 
purpose.  Thousands  of  them,  especially  of  the  weekly  papers, 
are  edited  by  men  of  the  purest  character  and  the  deepest 
religious  principle.  We  cannot  easily  overrate  their  value  as 
conservators  of  public  morals  and  antagonists  of  covert  crime. 
They  efficiently  promote  every  genuine  public  charity  and 
philanthropic  movement,  and  even  their  criticisms  of  ministers 
and  denominations,  though  oftentimes  unjust  and  severe,  are 
not  specially  unhealthy.  He  does  well  who  uses  his  influence 
for  the  purification  of  this  press  and  uses  the  press  as  an  organ 
for  the  promulgation  of  philanthropy  and  religion.  If  the 
press  was  prayed  for  as  much  as  it  is  denounced,  it  would  prob- 
ably be  improved. 

With  this  century  along  side  of  this  secular  press  have 
grown  up  the  religious  weeklies  of  this  country.  It  is  capable 
of  demonstration  by  figures,  that  the  religious  press  is  growing 
in  its  circulation  more  rapidly  in  proportion  than  is  the  secu- 
lar. That  growing  circulation  is  proof  of  the  increasing  relig- 
ious character  of  our  people  and  of  the  tremendous  power 
Christianity  wields  through  that  same  religious  press.  He  has 
a  large  congregation  who  as  a  preacher  is  heard  by  two  thou- 
sand people  per  week.  That  is  an  utterly  insignificant  news- 
paper which  is  not  read  by  twice  that  number.  When,  there- 
fore, we  are  considering  our  resources  for  that  century  on 
which  we  this  day  enter,  let  us  enroll  on  the  very  forefront  of 
our  efficient  agencies  the  religious  papers  published  in  the 
interests  of  the  denominations  here  represented. 

In  all  that  has  been  thus  far  said,  no  word  has  been  uttered 
that  was  intended  to  disparage  the  importance  of  our  sister 
evangelical  denominations  in  the  Christianizing  of  this  Amer- 
ican Home  Mission  field.  These  sister  denominations  are  our 
allies,  our  friends  and  loyal  soldiers  under  the  common  Cap- 
tain of  our  salvation .  We  greet  them  well  to-day.  We  rej  oice 
in  their  success  and  call  them  to  rejoice  in  ours.  United 
Protestantism  is  doing  a  workingman's  day's  work  every 
day  in  these  United  States.  "  Each  hour  for  ten  hours  of  every 
day  a  new  congregation  is  gathered  and  a  new  pastor  ascends 
a  new  pulpit  to  speak  for  God  and  humanity,  for  temperance 
and  for  law,  and  above  all  and  beyond  all  to  call  sinners  to 


103 

repent  and  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  for  the  salvation  of  souls." 
In  view,  therefore,  of  what  we  are  doing,  the  question  as  to 
what  is  wanted  for  the  future  has  but  one  answer.  The  future 
calls  for  simply  the  intensifyitvj  of  the  aggressiveness  of  the 
past.  We  want  no  new  Gospel  and  no  merely  sensational 
machinery  as  a  substitute  for  "  the  old  story  of  the  cross"  and 
the  divinely  appointed  messengers  and  means  of  grace.  These 
have  shown  ample  flexibility  in  adapting  themselves  to  every 
new  device  of  Satan  and  every  new  form  of  work.  The  terri- 
tory of  this  land  is  covered  with  Presbyteries  made  up  of 
ministers  and  churches  thoroughly  alive  to  the  needs  of  the 
age  and  with  keen  eyes  to  see  and  seize  each  point  of  strategic 
importance.  The  men  whom  God  by  the  voice  of  Ilis  Church 
has  called  to  organize  and  push  this  Home  Mission  work  in  our 
denominations  are  of  the  Bismarck  style  of  ability  in  adminis- 
tration, and  of  the  Von  Moltke  type  of  generalship  in  the 
field,  and  thoroughly  loyal  to  their  heavenly  King.  We 
occasionally  hear  charges  of  needless  competition  in  small  fields 
as  between  the  denominations  here  met  together,  but  remem- 
bering that  we  are  all  human  the  extreme  rarity  of  these 
charges  is  proof  positive  that  they  are  mainly  groundless.  The 
whole  ministry  and  membership  of  both  Churches  are  on  the 
eager  watch  against  any  needless  waste  of  funds.  If  there  was 
anything  in  the  charge  the  clamor  would  be  persistent.  When 
a  whole  forest  is  thronged  with  hunters  aod  only  at  very  rare 
intervals  a  chance-shot  is  heard  and  then  no  wild  meat  is 
bagged,  you  may  be  sure  that  game  is  scarce  in  those  woods. 
Men  who  have  hard  work  to  raise  money  are  sure  not  to 
waste  it  on  needless  territory.  Brethren,  v»'e  are  able  to  fur- 
nish the  cities,  towns  and  sparse  districts  in  this  land  abun- 
dantly with  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  so  long  as  no 
large  population  is  neglected  let  us  not  be  mean  toward  small 
towns. 

To  do  that  work  completely  but  three  things  are  needed, 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  living  men  and  the  means  to  send  them. 

The  only  place  where  there  is  danger  of  lack  of  zeal  is  in 
the  matter  of  pocketbook  and  bank  account  j)icty.  The 
providential  indications  are  most  assuring  that  this  too  is 
coming.  Wealth  is  rapidly  learning  that  city  missionaries  are 
a  better  protection  than  policemen,  and  that  the  converted  are 
neither  anarchists  nor  communists.  If  for  no  other  reason, 
self-preservation  is  compelling  mission  work  in  cities  and  in 
rural  districts.  On  every  side  the  rising  tide  of  benevolence 
proves  that  pentecostal  liberality  was  only  the  prophecy  of 
its  culmination  in  this  passing  dispensation  of  the  Uoly  Sj^irit. 
I  believe  that  the  present  spirit  of  the  Church  within  and  the 
present  providence  of  God  without  justifies  the  confidence  that 


104 

the  benevolence  of  the  past  in  this  land  shall  be  outshone  in 
the  triumphs  of  the  future,  and  that  the  Church  of  God  will 
really  take  and  possess  this  land.  The  men  and  women  for  the 
work  as  missionaries  and  teachers  have  always  been  on  hand 
in  larger  supply  than  the  fecretaries  were  able  to  send.  In  the 
name  of  the  young  men  and  womenofour  Presbyterian  Church, 
I  protest  against  every  insinuation  that  the  missionary  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice  and  that  crusade  spirit  of  chivalry  which  covets 
opportunities  to  bear  hardship  for  the  Master  are  wanting 
among  them.  You  have  but  to  let  them  know  that  means  for 
a  living  support  are  provided  and  you  can  go  through  the  col- 
leges and  female  seminaries  of  our  Church,  and  the  summons 
of  your  slogan  will  bring  after  you  in  trooping  crowds  the 
brightest,  the  best  and  the  strongest  of  our  sons  and  daughters 
anxious  for  this  work  for  the  glory  of  God. 

The  one  supreme  need  of  the  Church  is,  however,  that 
promised  gift  of  God's  Holy  Ghost.  To  give  that  is  in  His 
plan  and  promise.  In  geologic  ages  He  built  this  continent.  In 
time's  fullness  He  filled  it  with  His  Church.  He  will  not  let 
His  purpose  fail  for  lack  of  "  power  from  on  high  "  on  that 
Church  in  this  work.  And  more — His  purpose  for  this  land 
ends  not  in  this  land.  He  made  the  American  Church  what 
it  is  for  that  large  work  it  can  do,  and  has  to  do  in  obedience 
to  Him,  in  the  conversion  of  the  other  lands  of  the  earth  from 
the  darkness  of  heathenism  to  the  noonday  of  the  Gospel. 
Eight  gladly,  therefore,  do  I  resign  this  platform  to  my 
brother,  who  will  lay  before  you  that  plea  in  the  name  of  God 
for  the  nations  of  the  earth. 


FOREIGN   MISSIONS. 


By  Rev.  Matthew  Hale  Houston,  D.D., 
Baltimore,  Md. 


THE  honored  brother  who  has  so  kindly  presented  my  name 
before  you  has  in  fitting  terms  introduced  to  us  the 
great  work  of  Foreign  Missions  as  the  culmination  of  the 
work  at  home.  It  is  indeed  the  glory  of  the  home  Church 
that  the  grace  of  God  received  in  any  part  of  her  borders 
speedily  flows  out  with  blessing  to  the  very  ends  of  the  earth. 
Men  see,  as  they  never  saw  before,  that  the  riches  of  gladness 
and  peace,  placed  in  their  hands  by  their  glorious  King,  the  as- 
cended Redeemer,  constitute  them  by  His  command  debtors 
to  those  who  are  the  poorest  of  the  poor  on  the  earth — those 
who  have  never  heard  His  name,  and  from  north  and  south, 
from  east  and  west,  are  seen  the  feet  of  those  who  hasten  for- 
ward bearing  the  priceless  treasure  that  the  debt  may  be  dis- 
charged. As  the  gift  of  God's  grace  at  home  carries  with  it 
grace  to  distant  lands,  so  every  awakening  to  life  and  hope  in 
those  regions  where  only  the  shadow  of  death  has  reigned 
sends  hither  ward  a  blessing  to  us.  The  thrill  of  a  new  spirit- 
ual creation  on  the  Congo,  in  Tokio,  in  Madagascar,  in  Fiji, 
is  passed  round  the  globe,  as  an  electric  flash,  for  the  increase 
of  our  faith  and  joy. 

The  scenes  that  we  have  witnessed  to-day  spring  from  the 
influence  thus  borne  back  to  ue  from  the  foreign  work.  In 
the  fields  beyond  the  sea  the  divisions  of  the  great  Presby- 
terian army  first  saw  clearly  that  their  work  for  Christ  is  one. 
Confronting  the  broad  entrenchments  of  heathendom  the 
videttes  thrown  out  from  these  sacramental  hosts  first  learned 
to  march  shoulder  to  shoulder — the  laborers  began  to  work 
hand  to  hand.  We  turn  our  eyes  to  Japan.  We  see  there 
missionaries  of  the  Northern  Presbyterian  Church,  mission- 
aries of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  missionaries  of 
the  two  Reformed  Churches  of  this  country,  and  missionaries 
of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  sitting  to- 
gether in  the  same  Presbyteries  and  coming  together  in  the 
105 


106 

same  General  Assembly,  all  coalescing  witli  seven  thousand 
Japanese  Presbyterians  to  form  the  United  Church  of  Christ 
in  Japan.  As  our  noble  congregation,  brethren,  view  the  de- 
lightful affihation,  as  they  say  in  their  hearts,  "  Behold  how 
good  and  how  pleasant  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in 
unity,"  they  can  scarcely  resist  the  gentle  invitation  to  come 
and  cast  in  their  lot  with  our  men,  thus  putting  into  one  com- 
pact organization  more  than  one-half  of  all  the  Protestant 
Christians  of  Japan.  When  this  has  been  done,  when  the 
walls  of  spiritual  truth  now  rising  in  that  bright  laud  have 
been  thus  buttressed  and  cemented,  what  chance  will  there  be 
over  there  for  fine-spun  and  noxious  theories  of  a  probation 
after  death  ?  Going  further  east,  we  see  all  the  Presbyterians 
in  China  arranging  to  imite  under  one  General  Assembly,  so 
that  there  shall  be  in  that  vast  empire  but  one  Presbyterian 
Church.  Then,  from  where  we  now  stand,  turning  south- 
ward we  see  the  same  unification  taking  place  in  Brazil,  and 
the  General  Assembly  which  met  in  St.  Louis  last  year  passed 
a  resolution  approving  of  its  missionaries  in  that  field,  com- 
bining with  the  missionaries  under  the  care  of  the  General 
Assembly  then  in  session  in  Omaha  to  form  with  the  native 
Christians  one  Brazilian  Presbyterian  Church.  It  is  these 
lights  flashing  back  to  us  from  far-off  shores  which  have  re- 
vealed distinctly  the  truth  that  our  work  is  one.  Whether 
there  shall  be  in  this  land  of  ours  two  Assemblies,  or  whether 
there  shall  be  a  single  Assembly,  we  need  only  fix  our  gaze 
on  the  broad  enterprise  among  all  kindreds  and  tongues  and 
tribes,  and  we  see  that  in  heart,  in  hope,  in  endeavor  there  is 
among  us  a  true,  an  indissoluble  union.  Would  we  strengthen, 
would  we  knit  closer  these  bonds  of  union?  Then,  as  we 
clasp  hands  here  to-night  in  token  of  the  unity  of  the  Spirits, 
let  the  full  outpouring  of  every  desire,  let  the  high  purpose  of 
every  soul  be — the  whole  world  for  Christ. 

To  each  of  the  two  Churches  whose  representatives  are  gath- 
ered here,  it  has  been  given  as  a  crown  and  chief  glory  to 
take  a  full  part  in  this  work.  As  we  learn  that  before  the 
august  Assembly  holding  its  sessions  in  this  city  report  is 
made,  that  the  gifts  cast  into  the  treasury  of  this  cause  during 
the  past  year  amount  to  more  than  $900,000 — exceeding  those 
of  any  other  Church  or  society  in  this  land  for  the  same  work 
— our  hearts  rejoice  ;  and  as  we  see  the  missionaries  under  the 
care  of  this  Assembly  in  many  lauds — in  China,  Japan,  Corea, 
Siam,  Laos,  India,  Persia,  Syria,  Africa,  South  America, 
Mexico,  Papal  Europe,  and  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  our 
own  land — 504  men  and  women,  joined  with  1014  native 
preachers  and  teachers,  making  known  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ  in  many  tongues,  we  bless  God  for  the  abundant 


107 

grace  thus  bestowed.  Well  may  this  Assembly  say,  in  a  sense 
higher  than  was  ever  dreamed  of  by  the  Trojan  hero,  "  Quse 
regio  in  terris  nostri  non  "plena  lahorisJ^ 

In  the  Church  South,  from  the  day  on  which  she  first  took 
up  her  independent  task,  Foreign  Missions  have  been  recog- 
nized as  the  imperial  cause.  When  in  that  day  she  found  her- 
self girt  about  as  with  a  wall  of  fire,  when  no  missionary  had 
it  in  his  power  to  go  forth  from  her  bosom  to  the  regions  be- 
yond, the  first  General  Assembly  put  on  record  the  solemn 
declaration  that,  as  this  Church  now  unfurled  her  banner  to 
the  world,  she  desired  distinctly  and  deliberately  to  inscribe 
on  it,  "  In  immediate  connection  with  the  Headship  of  her 
Lord,  His  last  command,  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature,'  regarding  this  as  the  great  end 
of  her  organization,  and  obedience  to  it  as  the  indispensable 
condition  of  her  Lord's  promised  presence."  And  when  the 
way  was  opened  she  sent  forth  her  sons  and  daughters,  who 
have  gone  to  China,  Japan,  Mexico,  Brazil,  the  United  States 
of  Colombia,  Italy,  Greece,  European  Turkey,  as  well  as  to  the 
tribes  in  our  own  Indian  territory.  She  has  now  sixty-six 
missionaries  in  the  field,  who  are  associated  with  native  helpers. 
The  receipts  of  her  treasury  for  this  cause  have,  during  the 
last  two  years,  advanced  more  than  twenty  per  cent,  amount- 
ing now  to  $88,000.  The  declaration  made  by  the  First  As- 
'sembly  has  remained  the  controlling  sentiment  of  the  Church. 
We  love  our  own  land.  Our  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God 
for  our  own  people  is  that  they  might  be  saved.  Yet,  we  be- 
lieve that  we  can  only  have  power  to  save  our  own  people 
when  Christ  abides  in  us ;  and  if  Christ  be  in  us,  we  must  have 
it  as  our  chief  endeavor  that  all  men  be  saved  and  come  unto 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

In  carrying  on  this  work  it  is  of  the  first  importance  that 
we  guard  and  conserve  its  simplicity,  wherein  lies  its  power. 
Every  adjunct  which  is  embarrassing  because  it  is  unessen- 
tial must  be  cut  away.  The  civilization — the  social  forms  and 
usages — of  lands  that  are  called  Christian,  can  form  no  part  of 
the  Gospel  which  is  to  be  propagated.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
now  coming  to  be  clearly  recognized  that  the  attempt  to  shape 
converts  from  heathendom  on  the  model  of  our  Western  life — 
what  has  been  termed  the  "  Europeanizatiou  of  the  Asiatic  " 
— has  been  a  serious  drawback,  an  obstacle  to  success. 

The  man  who  wins  in  the  mission  field  is  not  the  English- 
man who  goes  there  "  carrying  all  England  on  his  back ;"  not 
the  American  who  holds  up  the  type  of  life  seen  in  the 
United  States  as  a  model  for  all  men.  He  obtains  the  prize 
who  becomes  an  Asiatic  that  he  may  gain  the  Asiatics;  who 
becomes  an  African  that   he   may  gain   the  Africans;  who 


108 
« 
makes  himself  all  things  to  all  men  that  he  may  bj  all  means 
save  some ;  who,  when  Christ  is  formed  in  the  heathen,  the 
hope  of  glory,  allows  that  life  of  Christ  freely  to  develop 
according  to  the  environment  in  which  it  is  placed.  And  just 
so  recognition  must  be  made  of  the  fact  that  it  is  no  part  of 
this  work  to  extend  our  modern  educational  systems.  In  the 
whole  New  Testament  record  of  missionary  methods  and 
achievements,  there  is  not  a  word  about  schools  as  a  mission- 
ary agency.  The  greatest  of  all  missionaries  declared,  that 
Christ  had  sent  him  to  preach  the  Gospel,  not  with  wisdom  of 
words,  lest  the  cross  of  Christ  should  be  made  of  none  effect  ; 
and  he  determined  to  know  nothing  among  the  heathen  save 
Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified.  We  might  plant  our  colleges 
in  all  the  cities  of  every  idolatrous  land ;  we  might  gather  into 
them  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  heathen  youth  ;  we 
might  teach  mathematics,  astronomy,  geography,  political 
economy — all  that  modern  educational  culture  demands — and 
when  we  had  done  all,  what  would  have  been  accomplished? 
There  are  hundreds  of  men  in  India  to-day  who  know  all 
these  things,  and  yet  join  in  the  bloody  sacrifices  of  Kali,  and 
worship  the  sacred  cow.  There  are  thousands  of  men  in  that 
land  and  in  other  lands  who  have  all  this  learning,  and  yet 
drift  helpless  on  the  dark  sea  of  rationalism  and  infidelity. 
Hath  not  God  made  foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world  ?  The 
missionary  of  to-day  must  go  forth,  just  as  Paul  went  forth, 
knowing  surely  that  no  man  can  even  approach  the  gates  of 
true  knowledge  until  he  has  learned  of  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified ;  that  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wis- 
dom ;  that  the  grand  and  simple  work  committed  to  him,  as 
the  messenger  of  the  kingdom,  is  to  testify,  as  far  as  lieth  in 
him,  to  every  human  being,  repentance  toward  God  and  faith 
toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  that  to  this  object  everything 
must  be  subordinated,  everything  made  subservient ;  and  that  if 
mission  schools  be  opened,  their  express  design,  plainly 
declared,  must  be  to  teach  all  things  whatsoever  Christ  has 
commanded.  Such  is  the  good  seed  which  the  Master  has 
put  in  the  bands  of  all  His  laborers,  and  when  it  is  sown 
broadcast  in  the  world,  there  will  be  a  reaping  even  to  a 
hundredfold. 

The  remark  has  sometimes  been  made,  rather  jestingly,  that 
there  can  be  no  missionary  addr««s  without  an  illusion  to  "fields 
white  to  the  harvest."  I  am  free  to  confess  the  opinion  that 
there  are  no  words  of  the  Bible  which,  in  this  connection, 
have  been  more  frequently  misused.  Friends  of  the  mission 
work  sometimes  speak  of  China,  Japan,  India,  Africa,  as  fields 
white  to  the  harvest.  If  they  looked  out  on  some  of  the 
broad  forest  lands  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  with  only  a 


109 

patcli  of  cultivation  here  and  there,  surely  they  would  not  say 
of  that  wide  expanse  of  territory,  that  it  is  white  to  the  har- 
vest. The  undergrowth  must  first  be  cleared  out,  the  timber 
felled,  the  ground  broken  ^nth  the  plough,  the  seed  cast  in, 
and  then,  when  the  early  and  the  later  rains  have  fallen,  and  the 
sun  has  turned  the  waving  stretches  of  green  into  golden  wealth 
— then,  and  not  till  then,  will  the  fields  be  white  to  the  har- 
vest. In  the  great  mission  lands  of  the  world  we  have  as  yet 
only  patches  of  cultivation,  and  we  are  clearing  out  the  under- 
growth ;  that  is  all. 

What  were  the  fields  which  our  Lord  Jesus  pronounced  al- 
ready white  to  the  harvest  ?  They  were  the  streets  and  lanes 
of  Samaria.  And  how  were  they  white  to  the  harvest  ?  One 
of  the  inhabitants  of  those  streets  is  held  up  to  us  as  a  type 
and  example.  She  was  a  sinful  woman  ;  but  there  were  two 
great  truths  that  she  had  learned — one  Avas,  that  her  father, 
Jacob,  had  in  that  mountain  worshiped  Jehovah,  the  true 
God ;  the  other  was,  that  there  is  a  Messias,  which  is  called 
Christ,  who  could  teach  her  and  her  people  all  things.  With 
these  two  great  truths  in  her  mind,  she  was  led  to  offer  up  a 
prayer — a  poor,  beclouded  prayer,  yet  sincere — for  the  Holy 
'  Spirit,  the  living  water  ;  and  at  once  the  Blessed  Spirit  came 
into  her  heart,  convicted  her  of  sin,  and  brought  her  to  trust 
in  the  Christ.  In  the  same  hour  many  of  the  Samaritans  of 
that  city,  like  her,  believed  in  Him,  and  the  harvest  was  gath- 
ered in.  Would  you  have  Japan,  China,  Burmah,  India,  Africa 
white  to  the  harvest  ?  Send  forth  great  bands  of  laborers  into 
those  lands ;  let  the  truth  of  the  one  living  God,  and  of  Jesus 
Christ,  who  tasted  death  for  every  man,  be  proclaimed  every- 
where publicly  and  from  house  to  house  ;  as  soon  as  all  the 
people  have  heard,  you  need  no  longer  say.  There  are  yet  four 
months  and  then  come  the  harvest ;  you  may  lift  up  your 
eyes  and  look  on  the  fields  ;  from  many  a  heart  will  prayer  go 
up  for  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  under  the  might  of  His  power  there 
will  be  reaped  and  brought  into  the  garner  sheaves  upon 
sheaves,  making  the  shoulders  of  all  laborers  to  bend  under 
the  weight  of  the  burden  ;  the  feast  of  ingathering,  with  all 
its  joys,  will  be  ours,  and  the  earth  vnll  resound  with  the  song 
of  the  harvest  home. 

Of  these  coming  glories  a  pledge  and  foretaste  has  already 
been  given  us.  We  look  back  to-night  to  the  time  when  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  land  had  no  separate  agency  for 
the  administration  of  her  Foreign  Mission  work ;  when  her 
officers  and  members  formed  part  of  the  constituency  of  the 
American  Board  ;  when  all  her  contributions  to  this  cause, 
hke  the  contributions  of  other  churches  in  that  day,  amounted 
to   but  a  few  thousands  of  dollars.     It  was  the   time  when 


110 

Foreign  Missions  were  on  their  trial ;  when  many  looked  upon 
the  enterprise  as  visionary,  and  others  doubted  its  success. 
The  Captain  of  the  Lord's  host  then  dealt  with  us  as  a  skillful 
commander  deals  with  an  undisciplined,  mistrustful  body  of 
troops.  He  does  not  lead  out  the  raw  and  timorous  recruits  to 
a  general  engagement.  He  must  first  build  up  their  morale. 
So,  he  attacks  the  enemy's  outposts.  He  captures  some  outly- 
ing detachment.  He  carries  an  entrenched  village  ;  and  when, 
by  these  minor  successes,  confidence  has  been  infused  into  all 
His  ranks,  then  it  is  He  leads  out  the  army  to  the  high  places 
of  the  field,  and  the  battle  rages  from  end  to  end  of  the  line. 

So  the  Lord  Jesus  dealt  with  us  in  the  day  when  we 
were  constituents  of  the  American  Board.  He  did  not  suffer 
us  to  enter  the  broad  provinces  of  China.  He  held  sealed  the 
gates  of  Japan,  He  put  barriers  in  the  way  of  any  work  in  In- 
dia, But  He  led  us  to  a  smaller  field.  Just  south  of  the  watery 
track  by  which  swift  steamers  now  bear  the  messengers  of 
salvation  from  our  own  shores  to  the  teeming  millions  of  Asia, 
He  chose  a  group  of  islands,  and  on  them  He  showed  His 
people  that  the  weapons  of  their  warfare  were  not  wielded  in 
vain. 

The  work  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  began  in  1820.  The 
missionaries  sent  out  by  the  American  Board  found  ready 
access  to  the  people.  They  translated  the  Bible.  They  taught 
thousands  of  the  natives  to  read.  They  preached  the  Gospel 
from  valley  to  valley.  And  yet,  thirteen  years  after  the  work 
began,  not  more  than  half  of  the  people  had  been  reached  by 
the  Gospel  (though  the  whole  population  of  the  islands  was 
only  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand),  and  the  number  of 
converts  was  less  than  one  thousand.  But,  in  1833,  the  Ameri- 
can Board  set  itself  deliberately  to  the  solution  of  the  ques- 
tion. How  may  the  Gospel  be  preached  at  once  to  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Sandwich  Islands?  A  letter  of  inquiry 
was  sent  out  to  their  missionaries,  stating  the  problem  and  in- 
viting a  reply. 

The  missionaries  returned  a  full  answer,  explaining  how 
their  forces  were  distributed,  and  calling  for  a  reinforcement 
of  forty-one  workers,  that  the  Gospel  might  be  preached  at 
once  to  every  man,  woman  and  child  on  the  islands.  The 
Board  without  delay  sent  out  a  reinforcement  of  thirty-two 
workers — the  largest  missionary  force  that  had  ever  been  dis- 
patched from  this  land — and  then  the  Gospel  was  preached,  not 
only  from  valley  to  valley,  but  from  shore  to  shore.  To  quote 
the  language  of  Dr.  Kufus  Anderson,  when  "  the  primary  truths 
of  the  Gospel  had  been  generally  diffused,"  there  came  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Then  the  voice  of  supplication 
and  of  weeping  was  heard  in  those  island  groves.     Then  the 


Ill 

houses  of  the  missionaries  were  besieged  all  day  long,  and 
sometimes  even  to  the  midnight  hour,  by  inquirers — men  and 
women,  saying,  "Sirs,  what  must  we  do  to  be  saved?"  Then 
one  missionary,  in  a  single  year,  baptized  five  thousand  of  the 
people ;  and  as  the  result  of  the  great  awakening,  one-fourth 
of  the  adult  population  of  the  islands  was  added  to  the  Church, 

The  converted  islanders  became  themselves  foreign  mission- 
aries, and  pressed  forward  with  the  light  of  life  into  darkened 
regions  beyond  ;  and  soon  the  American  Board  pronounced  the 
Sandwich  Islands  no  longer  mission  ground.  Here,  then,  was 
the  narrow  arena  on  which  the  great  Commander  showed  us 
how  fields  are  won.  Send  in  your  strong  reinforcements , 
preach  the  Gospel  for  a  witness  to  all  the  people ;  and  then  the 
end  comes. 

Having  shown  this.  He  has  led  us  fortb  to  the  broad  places 
of  the  Avorld  ;  He  has  set  us  in  array  against  the  serried  forces 
of  heathendom  in  every  land ;  and  He  bids  us  now,  with  all 
our  resources,  with  all  our  men,  advance  to  the  final  conquest. 

In  every  great  campaign  there  are  opportunities  which 
must  be  seized  without  delay ;  they  are  strategic  points  on  the 
side  of  the  enemy  which  should  be  occupied  at  once ;  and  for 
this,  concentration  is  dertianded.  So  the  American  Board 
thought  when  it  determined  to  throw  all  its  available  forces 
into  the  Sandwich  Islands.  The  time  had  come  wben  an  ex- 
ample was  needed  in  the  Foreign  Mission  service.  The  ques- 
tion was  raised  at  that  time,  Why  does  the  American  Board 
send  so  large  a  reinforcement  to  so  small  a  field  ?  The  answer 
returned  was,  that  in  that  field,  to  quote  again  the  language  of 
Dr.  Rufus  Anderson,  was  "  an  entire  people  in  one  compact 
group  of  islands,  under  one  government,  all  easily  accessible, 
and  singularly  prepared  for  the  Gospel.  In  no  other  nation* 
could  the  Board  so  well  make  the  experiment  of  the  possibility 
of  an  early  completion  of  its  work."  The  result  showed  that 
the  Board  had  been  guided  by  wisdom  from  above. 

And  now,  fathers  and  brethren,  to  us  has  been  given  an 
opportunity,  which  is  an  exact  counterpart  of  that  seized  by 
the  American  Board,  only  far  grander  and  more  splendid  in 
promise.  Beyond  the  Sandwich  Islands,  in  the  land  first 
touched  by  the  voyager  to  Asia,  there  lies  an  island  empire, 
the  Sunrise  Kingdom.  Did  we  study  language  to  describe  the 
present  state  of  Japan  and  its  people,  we  could  find  none  more 
fitting  than  that  used  by  Dr.  Anderson,  in  describing  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  years  ago.  "We  see  there  "  an  entire  people,  in 
one  compact  group  of  islands,  under  one  government,  all 
easily  accessible  and  singularly  prepared  for  the  Gospel." 
These  are  the  isles  which  now  wait  for  God's  law,  and  it  is  no 
rhetorical  figure ;  it  is  a  plain  statement  of  fact  to  say  that 


112 

they  expect  us  of  the  United  States  to  bring  the  law  to  them. 
They  remember  that  it  was  our  people  who  first  swung  open 
the  gates  of  their  land  to  the  world.  It  was  a  representative 
of  our  people  who  first  took  up  his  residence  among  them 
with  a  completed  treaty  in  his  hands.  It  was  our  people  who 
built  the  first  railway  for  them  and  set  up  the  first  telegraph 
line.  Two-fiftlis  of  all  their  exports  are  bought  by  us.  From 
our  newspapers  they  get  the  world's  news,  except  the  scanty 
bits  telegraphed  through  India  or  Siberia.  It  was  our  school 
system  which  they  adopted  as  their  model.  It  was  our  mis- 
sionaries who  began  work  among  them  ten  years  ahead  of 
those  from  any  other  land.  The  type  of  Christianity  in  Japan, 
as  far  as  it  takes  on  any  foreign  features,  is  decidedly  ours ; 
and  so  it  is  plain  that  if  there  is  any  great  mission  field  of  the 
world  which  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  has  especially  entrusted 
to  American  laborers,  it  is  Japan.  Since  it  is  the  Presbyte- 
rians and  our  old  allies  of  the  American  Board  who  have 
gathered  the  majority  of  all  the  Protestant  Christians  in  that 
land,  to  us  has  been  given  the  foremost  place  in  this  work. 
Now,  then,  may  we  best  signalize  the  centennial  which  we 
this  day  celebrate  ?  What  token  of  gratitude  and  love  may 
we  most  fittingly  lay  at  the  feet  of  ©ur  glorious  King  ?  I  do 
not  undervalue  other  offerings  which  have  been  named.  I 
would  not  depreciate  other  enterprises  which  have  been  pro- 
posed. But,  I  do  say  this :  if  by  self-sacrifice,  by  liberality, 
by  noble  endeavor,  we  would  win  for  our  royal  Master  at  this 
time  a  trophy  worthy  of  the  age  in  which  we  live,  there  is 
but  one  way  for  it :  we  must  gain  Japan.  Let  us  rally  our 
churches,  as  one  man,  for  the  effort ;  let  us  summon  our  old 
comrades  of  the  American  Board  to  pour  in  their  supplies  of 
,money  and  men ;  yea,  let  us  invoke  the  aid  of  all  in  the 
United  States  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  In  every  great 
city  of  Japan  and  in  every  hamlet,  on  the  mountain  side  and 
in  the  deep  valley,  let  the  Gospel  be  preached  at  once  to  every 
man,  woman  and  child  ;  then  will  the  spirit  of  light  and  love 
descend,  and  a  nation  will  be  born  in  a  day. 

The  triumph  which  we  believe  draws  near  in  Japan  is  but 
a  presage  of  the  result  which  we  are  assured  will  be  seen  over 
the  whole  earth.  "  This  Gospel  of  the  kingdom,"  says  the 
King  himself,  "shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world,  for  a  wit- 
ness unto  all  nations ;  and  then  shall  the  end  come." 

His  word  is  pledged  to  it.  This  Foreign  Mission  work 
shall  be  accomplished.  The  glad  tidings  of  the  Saviour  shall 
be  preached  to  every  creature.  The  victorious  end  shall  come. 
But  with  us  it  is  left  to  determine  whether  that  end  shall  be 
hastened  or  whether  it  shall  be  deferred.  Shall  we  preach  the 
Gospel  at  once  in  all  the  world  unto  all   nations  ?     Or  shall 


113 

we  by  our  faithlessness  and  lethargy  hold  back  the  Gospel  and 
delay  the  consummate  hour?  "  The  end,"  says  the  Master. 
The  end  of  what?  The  end  of  this  earthly  conflict,  with  all 
its  dust  and  toil  and  blood ;  the  end  of  the  sorrow  and  crying, 
the  end  of  pain,  the  end  of  death.  For  then  the  Master  will 
come  the  second  time  without  sin  unto  salvation.  He  will 
make  all  things  new.  With  His  own  light  and  power  and 
beauty  He  will  fill  all  things.  Fathers  and  brethren,  it  mat- 
ters not  here  whether  we  be  Pre-millenarians  or  Post-millen- 
arians,  here  we  are  all  at  one.  For  every  friend  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  there  is  but  one  blessed  hope ;  it  is  His  glorious 
appearing  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  We  cast  our 
eyes  out  over  this  earth  on  which  we  dwell,  we  see  it  turned 
by  the  curse  of  sin  into  one  vast  cemetery.  Among  the  mul- 
titudes who  sleep  in  the  dust  there  are  those  dear  to  you  who 
have  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus.  Those  bodies  sown  in  weakness, 
sown  in  corruption,  sown  in  dishonor,  must  lie  in  the  grave 
till  the  Gospel  has  been  preached  unto  all  nations — till  the  end 
shall  come.  Here  at  this  hour  unlock  the  chambers  of  your 
memory,  call  up  the  vanished  faces,  and  you  have  the  high 
argument  of  the  Foreign  Mission  work.  For  myself,  standing 
to-night  on  this  spot,  I  am  enchained  with  visions  of  the  past. 
A  little  more  than  fifty  years  ago  from  the  historic  church  in 
this  city  in  which  one  of  the  venerable  Assembhes  now  before 
me  last  week  convened,  there  went  forth  a  young  bride,  who 
made  her  new  and  gladsome  home  in  the  State  of  Virginia.  Ten 
years  passed,  and  a  mournful  procession,  in  which  was  a  little 
group  of  weeping  children  following  the  silent  form  of  the 
mother,  who  clasped  in  her  arms  an  infant  daughter,  hushed 
like  herself  in  death,  came  from  the  State  of  Virginia  back  to 
this  city.  Almost  within  a  stone's  throw  of  where  I  now 
stand  the  tones  of  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church  fell  on  my 
childish  ears  as  he  invoked  for  us  the  consolations  of  God,  and 
then  those  beloved  forms  were  borne  forth  and  laid  to  rest  on 
the  beautiful  slope  of  Laurel  Hill.  And  now  after  so  many 
years  I  find  myself  brought  back  here  by  the  hand  of  God  to 
plead  the  cause  of  the  dead,  of  all  the  sainted  dead  of  us  gath- 
ered here  in  this  centennial  year,  of  the  sainted  dead  of  all 
the  centuries  past.  Those  bodies  which  lie  in  weakness,  in 
corruption,  in  dishonor,  await  the  day  on  which  they  shall 
come  forth  arrayed  in  incorruptiou,  in  glory,  in  power,  and 
amid  the  splendors  of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth, 
they  and  we  shall  stand  in  the  presence  of  our  Lord  and  there 
shall  be  fullness  of  joy.  And  there  shall  be  no  more  death, 
no  more  sorrow  nor  crying,  no  more  pain.  Oh,  what  heart 
must  not  long  for  that  day  !  What  voice  must  not  pray  that 
it  may  come  quickly ! 


There  is  but  one  thing  needed  to  usher  it  in.  This  Gospel 
of  the  kingdom  must  be  preached  in  all  the  world  for  a  wit- 
ness unto  all  nations,  and  then  shall  the  end  come.  Here  in 
the  hundreds  of  millions  spread  before  us  who  have  not 
heard  the  name  of  Christ  we  see  our  great  task ;  there  in 
the  end  we  see  our  reward.  Then,  by  the  love  we  bear  to 
the  dead  who  rest,  by  the  pity  we  have  for  the  living  who 
wait,  by  the  loyalty  we  cherish  to  our  King,  who  died  for  the 
world,  let  every  man  and  every  women  now  rise  to  the  work. 
Oh,  speed  the  message  of  salvation  across  every  ocean,  carry 
it  onward  to  every  tribe.  Press  forward ;  tell  the  glad 
tidings  to  the  next  man  and  the  next  and  the  next;  Let  the 
wave  of  life  and  blessing  sweep  swiftly  over  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth,  and  then  the  triumphant  end  is  ours. 


HISTORIC    PRESBYTERIAN    CHAR- 
ACTERS. 


By  Rev.  Charles  L.  Thompson,  D.D., 

Kansas  City,  3/o. 


WALKING  along  the  shores  of  Profile  lake  in  the  White 
mountains,  the  eye  instinctively  turns  toward  the 
great  granite  mass  that,  scarred  and  rugged,  towers 
above  the  Western  shore,  A  few  more  steps  and  what  was 
an  irregular-scarped  cHff',  the  monument  of  prehistoric  storms 
begins  to  give  the  rude  semblance  of  a  human  face.  A  turn 
in  the  path,  and  the  outline  of  "The  Old  Man  of  the  Moun- 
tain" is  full  upon  your  vision,  every  feature  cut  clear  against 
the  sunset.  The  road  of  the  centuries  brings  character  into 
view.  We  do  not  need  to  describe  a  great  man.  We  need 
only  to  get  away  from  him.  History  sublimates  character. 
The  ages  give  perspective  iu  which  all  littleness  disappears 
and  only  true  greatness  remains.  And  what  is  history  at  last 
but  the  biography  of  greatness  ?  "  It  is  all  to  be  explained 
from  individual  experience." 

From  this  crest  of  the  century  let  us  look  back  upon  the 
faces  illumined  by  our  position.  Let  us  look  along  the  cliffs 
of  great  events  and  see  the  men,  who  to  their  own  age  were 
an  offense — to  following  ages,  a  mystery — but  to  us  appear 
clear  cut  and  beautiful,  the  incarnation  of  great  ideas,  and  the 
exponents  of  historic  epochs.  We  will  travel  to-night,  not  to 
Bee  the  Alps,  the  Pyrenees,  or  the  Grampians,  but  the  souls 
that  look  out  from  their  stormy  heights.  An  hour's  walk 
through  the  Gallery  of  Battles,  in  Yersailles,  carries  you 
through  the  romantic  and  thrilling  ages  of  French  history.  A 
half  hour  among  Presbyterian  characters  will  imply  thre© 
centuries  of  Presbyterian  history,  say  rather  of  world-history  ; 
for  in  this  period  this  world  has  sprung  to  its  most  splendid 
career. 

Remembering  that  the  centuries  of  time  are  to  be  explained 
by  the  hours  of  human  life,  let  us  find  in  men  the  origin  and 
significance  of  our  history.  Presbyterianism  stands  for  a  defi- 
nite whole  of  life  and  doctrine.      We  rejoice  in  its  sunlight. 


116 

We  have  dwelt  on  the  religious  and  civil  liberty  it  fosters,  on 
the  systematic  truth  it  holds,  and  the  vital  relations  it  sustains 
to  all  that  is  best  in  human  progress.  But  these  general  ideas 
have  men  back  of  them.  Shall  there  be  a  deliverance  from 
Egypt  ?  Then  Moses  must  come.  A  protest  against  idolatry  ? 
Let  Elijah  spring  like  an  apparition  from  the  wilderness.  An 
expectation  of  the  Messiah'?  Let  John  the  Baptist  utter  its 
voice.  So,  back  of  these  last  centuries,  when  humanity  has 
taken  a  new  direction,  I  am  sure  some  men  are  standing  whose 
vital  force  is  with  us  yet.  American  Presbyterianism  has  a 
far  and  profound  origin.  Our  sun  had  elsewhere  its  rising. 
That  "lane  of  beams  athwart  the  sea,"  that  lit  the  Mayflower's 
path  through  the  wintry  ocean,  traced  back  to  Europe,  reveals 
sunrise  in  many  lands.  Not  alone  does  it  gladden  the  dull 
Holland  marshes;  it  plays  on  the  Alpine  range,  shimmers 
over  the  Black  Forest  and  transfigures  the  mists  of  Scotland. 

It  is  an  accepted  philosophic  fact  that  the  combination  of 
diverse  elements  in  nature  and  life  is  the  condition  of  the  best 
and  strongest  forms.  That  combination  has  made  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  the  dominant  race  of  modern  history;  it  promises  to 
make  the  American  Republic  the  most  vital  part  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  life.  So  our  Presbyterianism  is  the  last  resultant  of 
many  forces.  As  the  life  of  a  nation  has  its  prophet  in  the 
ideas  and  principles  at  the  heart  of  it,  so  the  past  of  our 
Church  may  somewhat  forecast  its  future.  To  what  conquests 
are  the  ideas  which  fashioned  its  childhood  adapted  to  carry 
its  manhood?  What  truths  in  their  harmony  and  potency 
stand  sponsors  for  its  destiny?  In  the  lives  of  men,  in  the 
iron  of  their  blood,  we  will  find  the  answ^er. 

Studying  the  philosophy  of  our  times  and  casting  about  for 
the  shaping  ideas  of  modern  thinking,  I  perceive  that  chief 
among  them  all  is  the  personal  authority  of  God.  It  stands 
between  a  vapid  spiritism  on  the  one  hand  and  a  cold  material- 
ism on  the  other.  It  is  the  nerve  of  our  best  thinking,  the 
force  within  all  true  heroisms,  the  conservator  of  our  phil- 
osophy, the  strength  of  our  theology,  and  the  tonic  generally 
of  modern  civilization.  Specially  were  the  early  centuries  of 
our  history  times  in  which  God's  rule  among  men  was  cut 
sharp  and  deep  into  the  popular  consciousness.  To  that  more 
than  to  any  other  one  idea  may  be  traced  the  robust  and 
sinewy  character  of  colonial  life  and  the  solemn  earnestness  of 
colonial  struggles  for  independence.  That  truth,  more  than 
any  other  in  the  subsequent  times  of  skeptical  challenge  of 
the  throne  of  God,  has  been  the  tense  and  sufficient  cable  to 
hold  both  Church  and  State  loyal  to  our  historic  antecedents 
and  to  enable  us  to  keep  our  faith  sternly  with  our  fathers 
and  our  God.     Perhaps  the  historic  position  of  Israel  is  to  be 


117 

repeated  with  us,  to  maintain  as  they  did  against  despotisms 
on  the  one  hand  and  eflete  civilizations  on  the  other  divine 
personahty  and  human  accountabihty. 

When  now  we  trace  this  nerve,  that  made  us  sensi- 
tive in  our  successes  and  courageous  in  our  trials,  back 
to  its  genesis  through  the  perspective  of  three  centuries, 
against  the  background  of  the  snowy  Alps  there  stands 
the  colossal  figure  of  John  Calvin,  the  man  who  incarnates 
at  once  for  the  Church  and  the  State  the  humbling,  stimu- 
lating, and  sustaining  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  God. 
The  great  reformer  was  first  a  great  student.  The  tiny  gleam 
of  a  candle  in  an  attic  room  often  attracted  the  attention  of 
people  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  College  of  La  Marche.  It 
burned  on  far  toward  the  morning.  Did  ever  one  little  candle 
send  such  beams?  It  went  not  out  till  the  Reformation  morn- 
ing broke  full  on  France.  It  will  always  be  the  supreme  honor 
of  Martin  Luther  that  he  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. Many  hands  wrought  upon  the  rising  walls.  But  John 
Calvin  sprung  its  arch  from  land  to  land,  lifted  its  dome,  the 
cynosure  of  awakening  Europe,  and  gathered  under  it  in  com- 
pact organization  the  letters,  laws  and  liberties  of  Switzerland, 
Holland,  France,  and  Great  Britain.  At  twenty-six,  the 
profoundest  scholar  of  his  age,  he  wrote  his  "  Institutes," 
in  a  Latin  as  pure  as  that  of  Livy  or  Tacitus.  They  be- 
came at  once  the  fountain  of  a  new  theology  in  France, 
a  text-book  at  Geneva  and  Heidelberg,  and  the  stand- 
ard at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  For  twenty-eight  years  only 
were  his  labors  on  earth  continued,  carried  on  in  feeble  and 
failing  health ;  but  he  gave  to  the  world  scores  of  exegetical 
and  doctrinal  volumes,  which  remain  as  the  monuments  of  an 
incomparable  scholarship  and  an  amazing  industry. 

Their  first  influence  was  felt  in  France;  but  from  the  beau- 
tiful hill  above  the  "  arrowy  Rhone,"  the  light  went  abroad 
among  the  nations.  Geneva  at  once  became  the  mother  of 
Reformation  and  Liberty.  For  he  who,  once  expelled  from 
her  gates,  was  afterward  recalled  to  save  the  city,  recast  there 
the  theological  and  largely  the  political  thinking  of  the  world. 
Great,  not  only  in  scholarship,  he  was  the  master  organizer  of 
Reformation  times.  The  spirit  which  Luther  evoked  was  a 
spirit  of  agitation  through  Christendom.  All  the  elements, 
civil  and  religious,  were  in  ferment.  There  was  needed  a 
catholic  genius  great  enough  to  adjust,  on  divine  principles, 
the  relations  of  Church  and  State,  to  maintain  liberty  without 
license,  authority  without  despotism,  and  a  religion,  true  at 
once  to  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
Calvin  reformed  Geneva  on  principles  which  have  made  that 
citv  the  "seed-plot  of  democracy  "  for  two  continents.     The 


118 

man,  sometimes  called  narrow,  built  so  broadly  that  Ban- 
croft says  of  him,  "  More  truly  benevolent  to  tlie  human 
race  than  Solon,  more  self-denying  than  Lycurgus,  the  genius 
of  Calvin  infused  enduring  elements  into  the  institutions  of 
Geneva  and  made  it  for  the  modern  world  the  impregnable 
fortress  of  popular  liberty."  It  is  not,  then,  saying  too  much 
to  affirm  that  the  principles  of  this  Eeformer  l3uilt  the  dykes 
that  kept  the  waves  of  oppression  from  Holland  and  the  bul- 
warks that  flung  backward  the  persecuting  fmy  of  the  Guises 
in  France ;  that  they  were  the  inspiration  of  Cromwell  at 
MarstoD  Moor,  of  Bruce  at  Bannockburn,  and  of  Americans 
at  Valley  Forge  and  Bunker  Hill.  It  is  not  the  partial  pride 
of  a  Presbyterian,  but  the  impartial  judgment  of  our  national 
historian,  which  says,  "  He  who  will  not  honor  the  memory  and 
respect  the  influence  of  Calvin,  knows  but  little  of  the  origin 
of  American  liberty."  Our  history  emphasizes  this  statement, 
for  Calvinism  was  the  doctrine  that  prevailed  among  the  Hu- 
guenots of  South  Carolina,  the  early  settlers  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  Dutch  on  Manhattan  Island,  and  the  Pilgrims  around  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay. 

Equally  is  the  influence  of  Calvin  felt  in  the  educational 
history  of  the  country.  We  point,  with  commendable  pride, 
to  the  public  schools  that  dot  every  commonwealth  and  secure 
universal  education,  and  to  the  colleges  that,  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  plead  for  scholarship  as  the  most  eminent  sign  of  national 
distinction.  Calvin  was  the  author  of  our  system  of  free 
schools,  opening  them  first  in  his  own  city,  and  his  mark  on 
higher  education  is  manifest  in  the  fact  that  most  of  the  great 
colleges  of  our  country  have  a  distinctly  Calvinistic  origin. 

But  it  is  as  a  theologian  that  Calvin  will  live  to  the  end  of 
time.  His  system,  starting  from  his  conception  of  God  and 
branching  out  into  the  entire  domain  of  religious  thought,  at 
once  gave  order  and  force  to  the  newly  awakened  thoiight  of 
his  own  age,  and  has  remained  the  nerve  of  every  phase  of 
reformative  theology  to  the  present  time.  The  despised  Vau- 
dois  lived  again  in  France  when  she  accepted  the  Protestant- 
ism of  Geneva.  English  bishops  put  Calvinism  into  thirty- 
nine  articles.  Scotland  put  it  into  her  "  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant,"  and  Northern  Ireland,  to  which  we  are  indebted 
for  much  of  our  most  vigorous  Presbyterianism,  and  most  de- 
cided Americanism,  had  her  blood  enriched  by  the  doctrines 
of  Geneva  filtered  through  the  heart  of  Scotland. 

Thus  through  various  lands  the  theology  of  Calvin  came  to 
the  United  States.  We  would  expect  then  to  find  the  sover- 
eignty of  God  stamped  on  our  national  beginnings.  Though 
often  denied,  the  records  of  it  are  abundant  and  explicit.  We 
read  it  not  only  in  the  prayers  on  the  Mmjjlower  and  the 


119 

religion  of  tlie  Jamestown  colonists,  bat  emphatically  in  pub- 
lic documents  and  addresses  in  early  colonial  history.  John 
Adams,  when  the  fate  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  hung 
in  the  balance  of  debate,  declared  "  It  is  the  will  of  Heaven 
that  Britain  and  America  should  be  sundered  forever,"  Jef- 
ferson wrote  the  Declaration  with  no  book  at  hand,  but  with 
the  example  of  Swiss  and  Netherlands  full  in  mind,  he  traced 
American  destiny  direct  to  "  the  laws  of  nature  and  nature's 
God,"  and  the  pledge  of  "  life,  fortune  and  sacred  honor,"  is 
made  sacred  by  "  firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  Divine 
Providence."  More  distinctly  still,  the  Constitutions  of  the 
thirteen  States  make  the  idea  of  God  the  corner-stone,  the 
Constitution  of  this  noble  commonwealth,  as  if  taught  from 
Geneva  itself,  declaring  essential  a  "  belief  in  God,  the  Creator 
and  Governor  of  the  universe,  the  rewarder  of  the  good  and 
punisher  of  the  wicked."  Thus  the  polity  of  Calvin,  which 
combined  authority  with  popular  rights,  finds  noblest  expres- 
sion in  the  form  and  history  of  our  government.  If  ever  the 
time  shall  come  when  the  idea  of  God  shall  be  dim  in  our 
popular  thought,  when  the  tonic  of  it  shall  disappear  from 
our  theology  and  the  reason  for  it  seem  to  fade  from  our  phi- 
losophy, we  will  only  need  to  uncover  colonial  history  to  see 
it  shine  again  in  its  brightness,  as  it  shone  in  the  theology  of 
the  reformer — Mt.  Blanc  among  the  snowy  Alps. 

In  deference  to  the  will  of  Calvin,  there  is  at  Geneva  no 
monument  to  his  memory.  It  is  well.  Even  that  noble  ele- 
vation were  too  provincial.  To  American  Presbyterians,  sur- 
rounded by  a  heritage  throned  amid  oceans,  liberty's  last  best 
hope  among  men,  it  may  profoundly  be  said — "  Si  monumen- 
turn  quasris,  cir  cum  spice. ^'' 

If  the  idea  of  God  held  a  central  place  in  our  national  be- 
ginnings, its  correlate  of  a  refined,  self-reliant,  and  heroic  man- 
hood was  equally  pronounced.  Indeed,  they  are  the  hemis- 
pheres of  being.  When  Calvin  organized  the  Peformation,  he 
put  the  true  conception  of  God  at  work  among  the  forces  of 
human  nature.  The  result  was  a  manly  spirit,  fitted  to  cope 
with  the  physical,  civil  and  religious  problems  of  a  new 
nation.  That  heroism  came  out  in  the  first  settlements  from 
New  England  to  Florida,  in  the  first  debates  in  Congress  and 
Synods,  and  in  the  battles  of  the  Revolution  to  the  surrender 
of  Cornwallis.  Tracing  now  its  historic  roots,  we  find  them 
most  conspicuously  in  the  Huguenots  of  France,  among 
whom  the  theology  of  Calvin  had  its  earliest  incarnation.  And 
the  man  who  stands  for  the  loftiest  spirit  of  the  Huguenots  is 
the  Admiral  Coligny.  His  heroism  is  the  European  type  of 
every  modern  struggle  for  civil  and  rpligious  liberty. 

The  core  of  his  character  was  a  deep  religiousness.     He  was 


120 

in  this  tlie  Cromwell  of  tlie  Frencli  people.  The  will  of  God 
was  his  pole-star.  While  yet  a  Eomanist,  a  prisoner  in  a 
Flemish  castle,  the  true  light  just  beginning  to  break  on  the 
soldier's  mind,  he  found  his  only  solace  in  deference  to  the  will 
of  God.  And  when  near  the  end,  wounded  by  an  assassin,  he 
calmed  the  turbulence  of  his  friends  with  the  same  sublime 
submission — "  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done."  Eeserved  and 
cautious,  it  required  the  consecrated  enthusiasm  of  his  noble 
wife  to  rouse  him  to  arms.  Ho  hesitated  not  from  cowardice, 
but  from  conscience ;  not  from  timidity,  but  tenderness. 
Shrinking  from  the  sorrows  which  would  come  npon  her,  he 
offered  her  eight  days  to  consider  whether  he  should  plunge 
to  the  rescue  of  Protestantism.  With  Spartan  spirit  she  cried, 
"  The  eight  days  are  past  already."  This  parted  the  last 
strand  that  held  him  to  Rome.  Distinctly  renouncing  every 
human  ambition,  exclaiming,  "  In  the  name  of  Jehovah  we 
will  set  up  our  banners,"  he  advanced  to  the  conflict,  not,  in- 
deed, with  the  dash  of  a  Conde,  but  with  the  resolute  earnest- 
ness of  a  man  who  could  "  reach  a  hand  through  time "  to 
measure  far  results.  Through  the  alternations  of  battle  he 
held  his  army  to  the  loftiest  convictions.  After  his  first  vic- 
tory he  drew  his  soldiers  into  line  to  sign  a  solemn  "  League 
and  Covenant."  In  his  army,  as  with  the  English  Puritans, 
the  voice  of  prayer  and  the  singing  of  psalms  blended  with  the 
roar  of  battle.  In  intellectual  qualities  more  like  Grant  than 
any  other  captain,  strict  in  discipline,  reticent,  stubbornly 
courageous,  clinging  to  the  main  issue,  not  elated  by  victory 
nor  depressed  by  defeat,  terrific  in  assault,  and  still  more  mas- 
terly in  retreat ;  in  his  moral  qualities  more  unselfish  than 
Cromwell,  as  true  as  Washington,  as  devout  as  Adolphus,  he 
held  his  way  through  open  assault  and  secret  plot,  sleepless, 
tireless,  undaunted,  the  very  ideal  of  Christian  heroism.  And 
when  the  night  of  his  martyrdom  came — came  because  his 
heart  was  too  confiding  to  believe  in  the  colossal  perfidy  of 
Catherine  de  Medici — it  found  him  asleep  as  if  in  the  arms  of 
God.  The  cry  of  the  assassin,  bursting  his  chamber  door, 
only  composed  him  to  prayer.  His  serenity  did  notleavehim 
then.  The  majesty  that  had  marked  his  life  sublimated  his 
death.  Its  spirit  passed  on  into  the  lives  of  the  Huguenots 
everywhere.  When  Louis,  that  small  great  man  who  was 
"little  in  war,  little  in  government,  little  in  everything  but  the 
art  of  simulating  greatness,"  revoked  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  a 
half  million  of  the  best  sons  of  France  were  driven  from  their 
native  land  to  sow  the  seeds  of  valor  along  the  Rhine,  the 
Maas,  the  Thames,  and  the  Hudson.  Their  mark  is  to-day  on 
all  our  greatness.  Their  heroism  lived  again  in  the  Rovolu- 
tion.     The  hall  in  Boston  first  consecrated  to  liberty  was  the 


121 

gift  of  a  Huguenot.  Our  easternmost  college  bears  their  name. 
In  Florida  and  South.  Carolina  the  exiles  from  Languedoc, 
men  of  whom  it  has  been  said  that  they  had  the  virtues  of 
English  Puritans  without  their  bigotry,  found  a  refuge  from 
oppression  and  a  temple  for  worship.  Thus,  long  before  the 
chivalric  devotion  of  LaFayette,  we  were  bound  to  the  land  of 
arts,  romance,  and  heroisms  by  the  immigrants  who,  from  the 
Penobscot  lo  the  Santee,  avowed  the  simple  faith  they  had 
received  from  Geneva  and  translated  into  martial  valor  on  the 
fields  of  St.  Denis  and  Orleans.  Our  Statue  of  Liberty  in  the 
New  York  harbor  shines  East  and  West.  There  is  in  it  a  ray 
of  French  Protestantism  which.  East  and  West,  has  kept  loyal 
faith  with  the  kingship  of  God  and  the  rights  of  man. 

Another  phase  of  Calvinism  has  come  to  us  through  Scot- 
land and  Ireland.  If  Calvin  represented  the  sovereignty  of 
God  and  Coligny  the  dignity  of  man,  it  was  reserved  for  Scot- 
land to  wage  war  with  princes  for  tbe  Kingship  of  Christ  and 
the  Lordship  of  Truth.  John  Knox  was  the  ruling  spirit  of 
the  storm.  Called  from  the  people,  it  was  his  destiny  to  con- 
front kings  and  queens,  not  in  smooth  phrases  of  the  court, 
but  in  the  stern  severity  of  the  truth.  He  had  a  various 
fitting  for  his  work.  Now  a  student,  then  a  priest,  then  a 
Eeformer,  called  at  St.  Andrews  as  suddenly  as  Saul  at 
Mizpeh,  afterward  a  prisoner,  enduring  the  horrors  of  the 
French  galley  service,  and  last  of  all  a  student  once  more,  and 
at  the  feet  of  John  Calvin.  So  he  rose  to  his  stature  and  his 
work.  Since  the  days  of  Israel,  when  a  prophet  now  prayed 
on  Carmel,  and  now  dared  Jezebel  at  Jezreel,  histor^y  presents 
no  figure  bolder  than  that  of  Knox,  now  praying  in  his  gar- 
den, "  Oh,  God  !  give  me  Scotland  or  I  diel"  and  now  con- 
fronting the  queen  at  Holyrood  Castle.  A  man  not  so  catho- 
lic as  Luther,  nor  so  scholarly  as  Calvin,  yet  in  the  quality  of 
his  courage  and  the  singleness  of  his  devotion  without  a 
superior  in  the  reformative  ranks.  An  exile  from  his  country, 
his  calling  haunted  him.  One  starry  morning,  rowing  a  French 
galley  in  sight  of  the  white  towers  of  St.  Andrews,  with  the 
outlook  of  a  prophet  he  exclaimed:  "It  is  the  steeple  of  the 
place  where  God  first  opened  my  mouth  in  public  to  His  glory, 
and  I  am  persuaded  I  shall  not  depart  this  life  till  my  tongue 
glorify  His  Godly  name  in  the  same  |)lace."  His  life  was  one 
long  protest — stormy  battle  with  popes  and  princes.  He  was 
held  to  his  purpose  with  a  courage  so  sublime  as  to  constrain 
the  Earl  of  Morton  to  say  at  his  grave:  "There  lies  one  who 
never  feared  the  face  of  man."  Of  him  Carlylesays:  "He  is 
the  one  Scotchman  to  whom  above  all  others  his  country  and 
the  world  owe  a  debt."  And  Fronde  as  justly  says:  "No 
grander  figure  can  be  found  in  the  entire  history  of  the  Reforma- 


122 

tion  in  tliis  island."  That  figure  gets  ever  larger  as  it  recedes. 
What  William  the  Silent  was  in  the  Netherlands,  that  was 
Knox  in  Scotland — a  bulwark  which  flung  back  o|)pression  as 
the  rock  flings  back  the  sea. 

And  what  bearing  on  American  Presbyterianism  have  the 
struggles  of  John  Knox  ?  Much  every  way.  The  first  Eng- 
lish-speaking General  Assembly,  numbering  only  six  ministers 
and  thirty-four  laymen,  met  under  Knox  in  1560.  To-day 
more  than  twelve  thousand  ministers  and  churches  look  back 
to  that  small  Assembly  as  the  historic  mother  of  us  all.  That 
Assembly  had  a  lineal  successor  in  the  First  Assembly  in 
Ireland  in  1642,  and  both  of  those  in  our  own  Assembly, 
whose  centennial  anniversary  we  keep  to-day.  Among  our 
first  immigrants  were  many  Scotch-Irish.  The  First  Assem- 
bly was  composed  largely  of  their  children.  Its  first  con- 
vener was  a  lineal  descendant  of  John  Knox.  There  is  no 
stamp  on  our  Presbyterianism  to-day  so  decided  as  that  which 
Scotland  gave,  nor  is  there  any  land  where  Knox's  guiding 
principle  of  the  absolute  independence  of  Church  from  every 
form  of  State  control  has  found  so  fine  an  illustration  as  here. 

There  is  no  time  to-night  to  even  sketch  the  other  beams 
that  from  across  the  sea  contribute  to  the  brightness  of  this 
day.  But  justice  may  claim  one  moment  to  speak  the  name 
of  William  of  Orange,  to  recognize  the  important  relations 
of  the  Dutch  Church  to  our  own,  to  honor  the  heroism  and 
orthodoxy  of  those  teachers  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers;  one 
moment  to  speak  of  the  marvelous  force  of  the  Protestant- 
ism of  the  Palatinate  that  lives  in  many  of  our  Presbyterian 
names  and  has  impressed  so  profoundly  alike  our  scholarship 
and  our  theology.  Thus  the  prism  of  three  centuries  resolves 
our  daylight.  From  violet  to  blue,  it  deepens  from  the  flow- 
ers of  France  to  the  Alpine  skies,  yellow  and  orange  bands 
stretch  from  Heidelberg  to  Holland,  green  on  the  Green  Isle, 
and  royal  red  in  the  land  that  owned  no  king  but  Christ. 

The  men  thus  sketched  had  worthy  successors  among  us. 
The  spirit  of  freedom,  which  the  old  world  brought  to  the 
new,  has  inspired  our  Presbyterian  history.  It  was  a  Presby- 
terian graduate  of  Princeton,  Ephraim  Brevard,  who  wrote  the 
Mecklenburg  Declaration,  a  pen-stroke  that,  in  1775,  sepa- 
rated one  county  in  North  Carolina  from  the  British  crown. 
And  when  the  Declaration  was  under  discussion  in  this  city,  it 
was  John  Witherspoon  who,  when  Congress  for  a  moment 
wavered  between  the  slavery  and  liberty  of  the  nation,  lifted 
his  voice  till  the  old  hall  rang  again.  "  For  my  own  part,  of 
property  I  have  some,  of  reputation  more ;  that  property  is 
staked,  that  reputation  is  pledged  on  the  issue  of  this  contest." 
His  name  is  on  that  roll  of  honor,  the  signers  of  the  Declara- 


123 

tion.  To  tliat  distinction  his  monument  in  Fairmount  Park 
can  add  how  little ;  but  it  may  attest  to  future  times  the  fact 
that  the  father  of  our  Church  committed  American  Presbyte- 
rianism  to  the  defense  of  American  liberties. 

Our  Church,  though  conservative,  did  not  lack  in  the  evan- 
gelizing spirit.  The  fire  first  kindled  bj  Whitfield  was  scat- 
tered from  New  England  to  the  Carolinas  by  Presbyterian 
ministers,  among  whom  the  names  of  the  Tennants  ever  de- 
serve grateful  mention.  Intense  in  their  convictions,  extreme 
sometimes  in  their  judgments,  they  had  hearts  like  old  pro- 
phets, and  zeal  like  apostles  for  the  extension  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ. 

Neither  the  spiritual  nor  the  intellectual  side  of  our  Presby- 
terianism  can  be  said  to  be  unworthy  of  the  reformation  type 
so  long  as  the  names  of  Archibald  Alexander  and  Charles 
Hodge  are  remembered  among  men.  To  speak  these  names 
is  to  recall  to  our  memory  a  saintlinesslike  Melancthon's  and  a 
defense  of  the  faith  like  Calvin's.  In  the  forensic  arena,  the 
high  debates  of  the  "Westminster  Assembly  had  a  ringing  echo 
in  our  own  Assemblies,  when  were  heard  the  voices  of  Thorn- 
well  and  Robert  J.  Breckenridge. 

We  have  likewise  been  true  to  that  expansive  genius  of 
original  Presbyterianism  which  sent  Huguenot  missionaries 
to  Brazil  and  Florida.  For  we  have  helped  to  organize 
modern  missions,  whose  daring  conception  is  "The  World  for 
Christ."  Many  men  share  this  honor;  but  chief  among  them 
may  be  called  the  name  of  a  layman,  who  surrendered  brilliant 
political  prospects  that  he  might  organize  our  Church  for  mis- 
sions. That  name  is  Walter  Lowrie,  who  gave  to  this  great 
cause  his  personal  ambition,  his  life-long  services,  and  his  eldest 
son  a  martyr  to  China. 

When  thus  I  analyze  the  elements  of  our  greatness,  this  tree 
of  Presbyterian  life  that  shadows  a  continent  and  has  fruit  for 
the  world,  I  perceive  much  history  has  lifted  and  shaped  it. 
The  soil  of  Switzerland  is  in  its  roots,  the  blood  of  Holland  is 
in  its  veins,  the  free  breath  of  Scotland  is  in  its  leaves. 

Our  history  may  well  embolden  an  outlook  toward  the  fu- 
ture. That  outlook  is  broadened  when  we  read  the  past  in 
the  light  of  the  present.  We  accord  peculiar  honor  to  the 
fatherlands  and  their  heroes,  when  we  claim  a  progressive 
Church  and  declare  that  our  inheritance  had  such  vitality  that 
we  have  improved  on  the  original  type.  Our  doctrines  are 
broader,  our  spirit  more  catholic,  our  missionary  conception 
more  daring — more  Christlike.  We  bear  the  lineaments  of 
our  origin,  and  are  proud  of  them,  but  the  type  is  American 
and  good  for  a  march  around  the  world.  Our  spectrum  holds 
the  best  metal  of  the  old  saints,  and  the  living  light  of  to-day. 


124 

A  feeble  ray,  that  liglit  crept  on  Long  Island  and  the  shores 
of  the  Chesapeake.  To-day  a  hundred  colleges  flash  it  forth, 
and  eight  thousand  ministers  carry  it  on.  It  has  crossed  the 
continent  and  the  Pacific,  and  its  arrows  of  sunrise  pierce  the 
Himalayas. 

Mr.  Ruskin  tells  of  the  possible  changes  of  a  handful  of 
earth  picked  up  from  the  streets  of  a  manufacturing  town.  In 
it  are  clay,  sand,  soot,  and  water.  Give  it  time  enough,  and 
the  clay  becomes  a  sapphire,  reflecting  rays  as  blue  as  hea- 
ven. The  sand  becomes  an  opal,  the  soot  a  diamond,  and  the 
drop  of  water  a  blazing  star  of  snow.  So  wonderful  is  the 
chemistry  of  nature  with  its  law  of  co-operation.  Handfuls 
of  dust,  blown  about  Alpine  and  Scottish  hills,  dust  of  the 
martyrs  of  our  faith,  the  ages  are  thine,  and  the  economy  of 
God!  His  chemistry  never  fails.  The  ashes  of  Wickliffe, 
which  the  Avon  to  the  Severn  took,  the  Severn  to  the  sea  ;  of 
Hamilton  blown  over  Scotland ;  of  Calvin  in  their  nameless 
grave,  wrought  upon  in  the  laboratory  of  ages  are  the  founda- 
tions, opal,  sapphire,  diamond,  of  that  vast  temple  covering 
earth  and  sea,  whose  walls  shall  be  salvation,  and  whose  gates 
shall  be  praise. 


HOME   MISSIONS. 


By  W.  W.  Moore,  D.D., 
Hampden- Sidney,  Fa. 


THE  pioneers  of  tlie  Home  Mission  work  in  America  were 
those  expatriated  Presb3^terians  from  Ulster  who,  two 
centuries  ago,  landed  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware. 
Their  successive  migrations  Southward  laid  the  base  line  of  all 
our  subsequent  work  in  the  Southern  States,  They  built  a 
chain  of  churches  from  the  Potomac  river  to  the  Savannah, 
through  the  heart  of  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  which  have 
ever  since  constituted  the  Presbyterian  stronghold. 

It  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  that  from  the  beginning 
this  sturdy  element  was  the  back-bone  of  the  Kevolution. 
These  were  the  men  who  settled  the  historic  county  of  Meck- 
lenburg in  North  Carolina,  and  to  whom  Mr.  Bancroft  referred 
when  he  said  that  "The  first  voice  publicly  raised  in  America 
to  dissolve  all  connection  with  Great  Britain  came,  not  from 
the  Puritans  of  New  England,  not  from  the  Dutch  of  New 
York,  not  from  the  planters  of  Virginia,  but  from  the  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians  of  North  Carolina."  Fourteen  months 
after  that  memorable  action,  when,  in  this  city,  the  Colonial 
Congress  was  hesitating  to  pass  the  Declaration  of  National 
Independence,  it  was  the  eloquence  of  an  illustrious  Presby- 
terian that  swept  the  waverers  to  a  decision — John  Wither- 
spoon,  the  only  minister  of  any  denomination  who  signed  that 
immortal  document.  Later  still,  in  one  of  the  darkest  hours 
of  the  Kevolution,  the  great  Washington  himself  said  that, 
should  all  his  plans  be  crushed,  he  would  plant  his  standard  on 
the  Blue  Kidge,  and,  rallying  round  him  the  Scotch-Irish,  make 
a  final  and  successful  stand  for  freedom  on  the  Virginia  fron- 
tier. To  this  sterling  strain  belongs  the  unique  distinction  of 
being  the  only  race  in  America  that  never  produced  a  Tory. 
In  fine,  as  Dr.  DeWitt  has  well  said,  while  the  Quakers  were 
non-combatants  and  stood  aloof  from  the  conflict ;  while  the 
Episcopalians  as  a  rule  were  against  the  colonies  and  in  favor 
of  the  Crown;  while  the  Methodists  followed  the  mother 
Church  and  imitated  John  Wesley  himself  in  their  denuncia- 
tions of  the  revolting  Americans,  the  Congregational  ministers 


126 

of  New  England,  and  the  Presbyterian  ministers  from  Long 
Island  to  Georgia,  gave  to  the  cause  of  the  colonies  all  that 
they  could  give  of  the  sanction  of  religion.  The  Presbyterian 
ministers  upheld  it  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  press,  and  on  the  field, 
some  of  them  becoming  both  chaplains  and  commanders. 

Historical  Conspectus  of  Home  Missions. 

These  familiar  facts  are  by  no  means  irrelevant  to  the  his- 
tory of  Home  Missions.  They  gave  Presbyterianism  her 
coigne  of  vantage  for  evangelizing  America.  That  Church 
which  had  been  the  chief  champion  of  civil. and  religious  free- 
dom, and  whose  form  of  government  was  the  mould  of  the 
llepublic,  held  a  unique  place  in  the  afi'ections  of  the  people. 
Her  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  Independence  made  it  peculiarly 
appropriate  that  she  should  give  the  Gospel  to  the  new  nation 
and  conquer  this  continent  for  Christ.  The  great  men  who 
composed  that  first  Assembly  saw  and  seized  the  opportunity. 
With  but  few  exceptions  they  were  themselves  home  mission- 
aries, and  the  subject  which  excited  their  deepest  interest  was 
the  work  of  carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  outlying  districts  of  the 
Synods.  If  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  forfeited  her  empire 
in  America,  the  reason  is  that  the  supreme  importance  of  this 
subject  and  its  vital  relation  to  every  other  branch  of  our 
work  have  not  been  so  fully  recognized  by  later  Assemblies  as 
by  those  farsighted  patriots  of  1789.  They  knew  their  work 
and  did  it.  How  wisely  they  organized  and  how  zealously 
they  labored  may  be  seen  in  part  by  the  results  which  can  be 
tabulated  to-day,  notwithstanding  all  the  sterile  controversies 
and  baneful  dissensions  of  their  successors.  There  were  16 
Presbyteries  then,  there  are  389  now;  177  ministers  then, 
8333  now;  419  churches  then,  11,212  now;  15,000  members 
then,  9.-*2,305  now.  The  population  of  the  country  then  was 
3,000,000,  now  it  is  60,000,000.  The  increase  of  population 
in  the  century,  therefore,  has  been  twentyfold,  that  of  our 
communicants  more  than  sixtvfold.  The  collection  for  Home 
Missions  in  1789  amounted  to  $400,  in  1887  nearly  $900,000. 
Daring  the  century  over  1,500,000  souls  have  been  added  to 
the  Church  on  confession  of  faith.  These  cold  figures  alone 
tell  a  stirring  story  of  Home  Missions. 

The  brevity  to  which  I  am  constrained  forbids  any  detailed 
description  of  this  marvelous  growth.  But  the  scantiest 
resume  of  our  subject  would  be  incomplete  without  some 
reference  to  that  constellation  of  missionaries  raised  up  in  the 
great  revival  at  Hampden-Sidney  in  1788,  each  of  whom  itin- 
erated vast  regions  of  country  on  a  salary  of  $200  a  year; 
to  the  men  of  Eedstone,  who  planted  to  such  purpose  that 


127 

there  are  now  over  thirty  Synods  in  the  transmontane  West, 
where  a  century  ago  there  was  but  one  Presbytery  of  four 
ministers  ;  to  Thomas  Cleland,  who  preached  the  first  Presby- 
terian sermon  in  Indiana  in  1805 ;  to  David  Kice,  the  morn- 
ing star  of  Presbyterianism  in  Kentucky  ;  to  Samuel  Doak, 
who  carried  the  first  hbrary  across  tlie  Alleghenies  on  horse- 
back to  endow  his  log  college  in  Tennessee.  And  what  shall 
I  more  say  ?  For  the  time  woald  fail  me  to  tell  of  Templeton, 
and  of  Hall,  and  of  Cunningham,  and  of  Henderson;  of  Black- 
burn also,  and  Porter,  and  of  many  others  who  through  faith 
preached  the  Gospel  from  the  Chesapeake  Bay  to  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  and  whose  names  are  imperishably  associated  with 
the  early  evangelization  of  the  South  and  West.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  since  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  Presbyterian 
Church  has  contributed  to  this  cause  over  $10,000,000  and  sent 
into  the  field  more  than  50,000  missionaries. 

Work  Among  the  Negroes. 

But,  with  this  hurried  glance  at  our  earher  missionary  op- 
erations in  the  South  and  these  brief  statistics  of  our  work  in 
establishing  and  extending  the  Eedeemer's  kingdom  through- 
out the  country,  I  must  pass  on  to  speak  of  our  work  for  the 
blacks  and  of  our  mighty  task  since  the  emancipation  of  the 
slave  unfettered  the  South  and  opened  the  way  for  the  unpar- 
alleled expansion  of  the  last  twenty-three  years.  That  Dutch 
skipper  who  in  1620  landed  the  first  cargo  of  African  slaves 
on  the  shore  of  Virginia,  meant  evil  against  those  helpless 
savages,  but  God  meant  it  unto  good,  to  preserve  much  people 
alive,  as  at  this  day.  Sold  by  the  States  in  which  their  labor 
was  not  profitable  and  bought  by  the  States  in  which  it  was 
apparently  profitable,  they  were  inevitably  massed  in  the 
South,  and  thus  our  special  work  in  the  department  of  Home 
Missions  was  cut  out  for  us  and  laid  to  our  hands.  The  manner 
in  which  that  work  was  accomplished  will  reflect  eternal  honor 
on  the  Christian  people  of  the  South.  Never  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  with  perhaps  a  single  exception,  has  a  nation  been 
lifted  from  a  plane  so  low  to  a  plane  so  high  in  the  same  length  of 
time.  Compare  for  a  moment  the  native  African  with  the 
American  slave  of  1863.  In  that  very  year  Sir  Samuel  Baker 
wrote  in  his  journal  the  following  estimate  :  "  Human  nature 
viewed  in  its  crude  state,  as  pictured  among  African  savages, 
is  quite  on  a  level  with  that  of  the  brute,  and  not  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  noble  character  of  the  dog.  There  is  neither 
gratitude,  pity,  love,  nor  self-denial,  no  idea  of  duty,  no  reli- 
gion ;  but  covetousness,  ingratitude,  selfishness,  and  cruelty." 
And  in  1872  he  adds :  "  Thie  treachery  of  the  negro  is  beyond 


128 

belief.  He  lias  not  a  moral,  human  instinct,  and  is  below  tbe 
brute.  How  is  it  possible  to  improve  such  abject  animals?" 
Such,  were  the  degraded  savages  who  were  brought  to  our 
shores  over  two  centuries  ago,  and  for  whose  salvation  the 
Christian  men  and  women  of  the  South  have  labored  all  these 
years.  And  with  what  result?  lu  1865,  of  the  four  million 
slaves  in  the  Southern  States,  belonging  to  the  same  brutal 
race  described  by  Baker,  "  all  had  been  brought  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Christianity,  and  half  a  million  were  members  of 
the  Church  of  Christ."  The  highest  authority  on  this  sub- 
ject in  the  world  has  said  that "  the  astonishing  progress  made 
among  the  colored  people  since  their  freedom  was  made  possi- 
ble by  what  had  been  accomplished  for  them  before  their 
freedom." 

But  the  loss  of  $3,000,000,000  invested  in  slavery,  and  of 
four  successive  crops,  the  devastation  of  the  country,  and  the 
struggle  against  starvation,  made  it  impossible  for  the  Southern 
people  to  do  for  the  negroes  after  the  war  what  they  had  done 
before.  At  this  juncture,  however,the  Christian  people  of  the 
North  took  up  the  work  and  carried  it  on  with  such  vigor 
that  since  the  emancipation  over  half  a  million  more  have 
been  added  to  the  various  denominations.  I  would  not  imply 
that  the  South  has  neglected  this  work  since  the  war.  Years 
ago  our  General  Assembly  organized  the  work  among  the  ne- 
groes as  a  distinct  department  coordinate  with  Sustentation, 
Evangelistic  Work,  and  Ministerial  Relief,  and  in  1876  the 
institute  for  the  training  of  colored  ministers  was  established 
at  Tuscaloosa,  Alabama.  This  was  the  first  step  in  this  direc- 
tion taken  by  any  Southern  denomination.  In  the  meantime, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  Northern  Church  also  had  been  pushing 
the  work,  and  now  reports  15,880  communicants,  six  higher 
institutions  of  learning,  enrolling  1800  students,  and  103  pa- 
rochial schools,  with  a  total  attendance  of  nearly  10,000 
pupils.     Both  South  and  North  have  done  nobly. 

But,  after  all,  the  proportion  of  professed  Christians  among 
them  to-day  is  but  little  larger  than  it  was  in  1865,  and  the 
number  of  those  who  honor  that  profession  is  notoriously 
small.  The  race  is  rapidly  multiplying.  There  are  now,  prob- 
ably, 8,000,000  of  them.  One-fourth  of  this  number  are  im- 
proving. Three-fourths  are  little  better  than  heathen,  and  in 
some  parts  of  the  South  they  have  been  steadily  retrograding 
since  the  war.  Illiteracy  is  on  the  increase  among  them,  the 
last  decade  showing  an  increase  of  300,000  ignorant  blacks. 
Of  their  2,000,000  children  of  a  school  age,  1,103,000  are  out 
of  school,  because  there  are  no  schools  for  them.  These  are 
startling  facts.  Here  are  these  millions  of  semi-barbarians, 
ignorant,  immoral,  superstitious.     They  are  here  to  stay ;  for, 


129 

while  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  ultimate  purpose  of  God  in 
bringing  them  to  America  was  the  evangelization  of  Africa, 
it  is  equally  plain  that  the  great  body  of  them  will  remain  in 
this  country  as  a  base  of  operations  for  that  sublime  mission. 
Hence,  self-interest  and  patriotism,  as  well  as  love  for  souls  and 
the  honor  of  our  Redeemer,  conspire  to  emphasize  our  duty  to 
these  heathen  at  our  doors.     And,  as  Judge  Tourgee  has  said, 
"  It  is  the  grandest  mission  ever  yet  laid  on  the  heart  and 
brain  of  a  Christian  nation."     Where,  even  in  the  foreign 
field,  can  we  find  a  work  of  more  importance  or  more  prom- 
ise?    There  are  here  no  difficulties  of  language,  no  barriers 
of  ancestral  idolatry,  no  necessity  for  long  and  laborious  years 
of  sowing  without  reaping.     All  this  preparatory  work  has 
been  done  ;  these  people  are  no  longer  savages ;  many  of  them 
are  being  educated ;   and  thousands  of  them  are  thirsting  for 
truth.     Their  rapidly  developing  race-pride  and  desire  for  reli- 
gious independence  only  enhance  tlie  value  of  our  opportunity. 
If  we  are  seeking  that  investment  of  our  work  and  money, 
which  offers  the  minimum  of  risk  and  the  maximum  of  profit, 
here  it  is.     One  of  the  most  earnest  and  intelligent  negroes  in 
Virginia  says  that,  "If  the  colored  people   of  this  Southland 
are  ever  to  be  elevated  intellectually,  morally  and  spiritually, 
the  Presbyterian  Church  must  have  a  distinguished  part  in 
bringing  it  about."     He   is  right.     The  type  of  piety  most 
needed  among  these  impressionable  people,  whose  religious  ser- 
vices too  often  consist  of  senseless  harangues  and  Avild  excite- 
ment, is  that  sober  and  intelligent  type  developed  by  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.      What  shall  be  our  record  for  the  coming 
century  ?     What  shall  be  our   influence   upon  the  future  of 
the    American  freedman,   and  upon  the  destiny  of  the  Dark 
Continent  ?  , 

Growth  of  the  Southern  Church  Since  the  War. 

Church  extension  among  the  whites  was,  of  course,  arrested 
by  the  civil  war.  Then  came  the  horrible  saturnalia  of  Re- 
construction. The  fortune  of  the  South  had  consisted  chiefly 
of  slaves  and  land.  The  war  obliterated  one  part  of  this  prop- 
erty and  depreciated  the  other  to  a  degree,  which,  in  many 
cases,  made  it  a  burden  rather  than  a  support.  Under  such 
conditions,  impoverished  and  crippled,  the  Southern  Church 
began  her  career  as  a  separate  organization ;  and  yet,  as  we 
contrast  her  strength  to-day  with  her  strength  then,  we  have 
abundant  reason  to  thank  God  and  take  courage.  Her  growth 
has  been  wonderful.  When  organized  in  1861  the  General 
Assembly  included  47  Presbyteries,  700  ministers,  1000 
churches  and  75,000  communicants,  about  10,000  of  whom  were 


130 

negroes.  It  includes  now  69  Presbyteries,  1173  ministers, 
2236  churches  and  150,398  communicants.  The  number  of 
both  churches  and  comranmcants  has  more  than  doubled. 
And  this  is  but  the  beginning  of  our  growth,  merely  the  big 
drops  before  the  shower,  as  I  shall  now  endeavor  to  show. 

The  Outlook  in  the  South. 

In  1776  the  primacy  of  Virginia  among  the  colonies  was 
undisputed.  In  1860  she  had  been  reduced  to  the  fifth  place 
among  the  States,  two  of  her  superiors  in  wealth  and  popula- 
tion having  been  carved  out  of  her  own  north-west  territory. 
Do  you  ask  the  explanation  ?  It  was  the  curse  of  African 
slavery.  The  largest  crop  of  cotton  ever  produced  under  that 
system  was  less  than  5,000,000  bales  (1859-'60).  In  1882-'83, 
only  sixteen  years  after  a  desolating  war.  the  magnificent  total 
of  7,000,000  bales  demonstrated  the  superior  efficiency  and  fruit- 
fulness  of  hired  labor.  The  meaning  of  these  facts  is  this: 
The  slave  was  not  so  much  shackled  by  the  South  as  the 
South  was  shackled  by  the  slave.  And  when  she  sought  po- 
litical independence  by  secession  God  gave  her  instead  indus- 
trial independence,  not  through  victory,  but  through  defeat, 
and  for  proof  we  point  to  her  phenomenal  progress  since  1865. 
"  The  new  South  "  is  a  reality,  notwithstanding  the  attempt  of 
an  able,  but  reactionary,  minority  to  expel  the  phrase  and 
deny  the  fact.  But  the  new  South,  while  by  no  means  a  rep- 
lica of  the  old,  is  yet  the  creation  of  the  same  forces,  and 
demonstrates  to  the  world  what  that  great  people  is  capable  of 
when  relieved  of  the  paralyzing  incubus  of  slavery.  It  is 
chiefly  the  enterprise  of  her  own  citizens  which  has  lifted  the 
South  out  of  the  ashes  to  which  the  war  consigned  her.  Her 
prosperity  has  every  promise  of  permanence.  The  pyramid 
is  no  longer  on  its  apex,  but  on  its  base,  for  while  cotton  is 
still  king — in  an  important  sense — we  have  learned  that  the 
$100,000,000  annually  received  from  that  crop  will  make  us 
truly  prosperous  only  when  the  supplies  which  produce  it  are 
home  raised,  and  when  our  own  vast  natural  advantages  for 
spinning  and  weaving  our  staples  are  utilized.  So  that  just  as 
the  political  power,  which  was  wielded  by  an  oligarchy  be- 
fore the  war,  is  now  diffused  among  the  people,  so  the  wealth 
which  was  then  congested  into  one  plethoric  channel  is  now 
widely  distributed  by  means  of  diversified  crops  and  home 
manufactures.  Not  less  marked  and  full  of  promise  are  many 
of  the  changes  in  the  people  themselves.  The  severe  priva- 
tions endured  for  a  few  years  after  the  war  developed  a  fru- 
gality unknown  before,  and  the  laissez  /aire  of  the  typical 
ante-bellum  Southerner  has  been  transmuted  into  the  activity 


131 

and  push  which  were  once  thought  peculiar  to  the  people  of 
the  North. 

Of  course  we  still  have  among  us  croakers  who  remember 
that  the  Virginia  sunsets  before  the  war  were  much  finer  than 
they  are  now,  who  deplore  the  loss  of  "individuality"  on  the 
part  of  the  South  and  see  only  evil  in  the  cosmopolitan  cast  of 
our  civilization,  who  publish  periodical  Jeremiads  over  the 
influx  of  "Northern  ideas,"  and  can  demonstrate  to  their  own 
entire  satisfaction  that  the  South  is  growing  poorer  every  day. 
But  the  battery  of  facts  is  gradually  thinning  the  ranks  of  even 
these  pessimists.  When  they  speak  of  mortgaged  farms  in 
Georgia,  it  can  at  least  be  answered  that  the  mortgages  on  the 
farms  of  ten  of  the  "prosperous"  Western  States  aggregate 
$3,422,000,000,  Ohio  leading  the  Hst  with  an  aggregate  of 
$701,000,000.  The  statistics  show  that  of  the  fourteen  South- 
ern States  there  are  only  four  in  which  the  capital  invested  in 
new  enterprises  in  1887  is  not  double  the  amount  invested  in 
1886.  What  do  these  facts  mean?  Why,  in  connection  with 
the  balmy  climate  and  boundless  resources  of  the  South  they 
mean  unexampled  wealth,  population,  and  influence.  And  to 
us  they  mean  that  here  we  should  make  our  largest  investments 
of  labor  and  money  for  domestic  missions.  We  are  told  by 
Humboldt  that  one  of  the  soldiers  of  Cortez  sowed  the  first 
wheat  in  America.  He  had  but  three  grains,  which  had  been 
found  in  their  supply  of  rice.  But  those  three  grains  he 
planted  in  the  right  place,  and  in  1880  our  wheat  crop  was 
460,000,000  bushels.  Such  were  the  dividends  on  that  judi- 
cious investment. 

Montesquieu  declares  that  "  Climate  is  the  most  powerful 
of  all  empires,  and  gives  guaranty  alone  of  future  develop- 
ment." In  Dakota  last  winter  113  persons  perished  in  one 
blizzard,  some  of  them  within  a  hundred  yards  of  their  homes. 
Is  it  not  certain  that  the  intolerable  climate  of  the  North-west 
will  eventually  tarn  the  tide  of  immigration  to  the  soft  and  salu- 
brious South'?  In  1882  that  immigration  reached  the  enor- 
mous total  of  800,000  souls.  Thirteen  States  in  the  Union 
have  less  population  than  that,  and  seven  of  the  thirteen  are  in, 
the  South.  A  Philadelphia  orator  has  recently  said  that,  "  The 
land  for  the  homes  of  our  future  growth  is  not  in  the  West, 
nor  in  the  East,  nor  in  the  North ;  it  is  in  the  South,  where 
there  are  more  unimproved  and  improvable  acres  than  the 
present  total  improved  land  in  all  the  States  of  the  Union 
excepting  Illinois,"  This  testimony  is  true.  Yet  very  few 
even  of  well-informed  people  are  aware  of  the  vast  extent  of 
our  territory.  How  many  of  you  are  taken  by  surprise  when 
I  announce  that  there  are  eight  States  in  the  South  larger  than 
Pennsylvania,  and  yet  not  one  of  them  has  half  the  population 


132 

of  Pennsylvania !  One  of  those  eight  States  has  an  area  of 
274,000  square  miles,  that  is  to  say,  it  is  larger  than  all  New 
England,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio  and  Indiana  combined.  Texas  is  not  only  the 
grazing  ground  of  a  continent,  but  has  "  a  rich  and  diversified 
soil,  producing  wheat  as  in  California,  corn  as  in  Illinois,  and 
cotton  as  in  Egypt."  These  data,  taken  in  connection  with 
her  genial  climate  and  uniform  temperature,  explain  the  fact 
that  in  fifty  years  her  population  has  increased  fiftyfold.  In 
1838  it  was  about  50,000.  It  is  now  over  2,000,000,  though 
"  not  one-fifth  of  the  area  of  Texas  is  yet  occupied  or  utilized." 

Again,  the  three  principal  lumbering  States  in  the  Union 
are  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota.  The  timber  area  of 
the  South  is  four  times  as  great  as  theirs,  affording  lumber  of 
■equal  quality  and  more  numerous  varieties.  Arkansas  alone 
has  30,000  square  miles  of  forests,  an  area  equal  to  two-thirds 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  same  State  has  12,000  square  miles  of 
coalfields  and  between  3000  and  4000  miles  of  navigable 
streams — more  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union.  When  I 
add  that  her  fine  fruits  carry  off  the  premium  in  competition 
with  California,  you  will  be  prepared  for  the  statement  that 
her  population  has  doubled  in  the  last  decade. 

Such  facts  are  the  logical  foreground  of  our  calculations  for 
the  future.  But  why  should  I  attempt  here  a  description 
of  all  the  crowned  States  of  the  South  ?  In  agriculture,  in 
mining,  in  manufacturing  and  in  lumbering,  if  not  in  stock- 
raising,  the  South  is  destined  to  excel  every  other  part  of  our 
country.  And  why  should  she  not  compete  with  the  North 
even  in  commerce,  when  the  teeming  products  of  both  West 
and  South  shall  eventually  seek  the  ocean  by  the  shortest  line 
of  land  transportation?  A  glance  at  the  map  with  this 
thought  in  mind  will  suggest  a  great  future  for  our  seaboard 
cities.  In  short,  your  veteran  statesman.  Judge  Kelley,  was 
right  when,  in  his  recent  book  on  the  South,  he  said:  "She 
is  the  coming  El  Dorado  of  American  adventure." 

It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  the  railroads  built  up  the  West. 
In  1840  Illinois  land  glutted  the  market  at  $1.25  an  acre.  In 
1880,  when  she  had  a  mile  of  railroad  to  every  seven  square 
miles  of  territory,  her  lands  averaged  from  $30  to  $50  an 
acre.  Now,  when  the  fertile  South  is  gridironed  in  that  way, 
who  can  estimate  her  wealth  ?  And  the  time  is  not  far  off. 
In  1880  the  United  States  built  more  miles  of  railway  than 
all  the  world  beside.  Many  of  these  lines  are  reaching  South- 
ward, and  farmers,  tradesmen,  capitalists  and  mechanics  are 
beginning  to  move,  as  if  by  instinct,  to  the  future  seat  of  em- 
pire. For  instance,  a  vast  tide  of  immigration  is  pouring  into 
Northern  Alabama  and  the  contiguous  territory,  outstripping 


133 

the  means  of  grace  and  appealing  to  the  evangelistic  agencies 
of  the  Church.  That  tide  will  continue  to  flow  without  an 
ebb  for  many  years.  Mining  and  manufacturing  towns  are 
springing  up  in  every  direction,  and  the  day  is  not  distant 
when  the  iron  crown  of  Pennsylvania  shall  adorn  the  brow  of 
Alabama.  The  gentleman  .who  is  at  this  moment  speaking  in 
the  adjoining  hall,  and  who  is  recognized  as  an  authority  on 
the  subject  of  Home  Missions,  says  that  a  field  promising 
larger  and  more  immediate  results  is  open  in  Northern  Ala- 
bama than  is  to  be  found  in  any  part  of  the  West  with  which 
he  is  familiar.  But  even  in  the  older  States  there  are  vast 
populations  absolutel}''  unreached  by  us.  In  1884  there  were 
said  to  be  42  counties  in  Virginia  without  Presbyterian 
preaching,  in  North  Carolina  8-i  and  in  Kentucky  50.  These, 
remember,  are  our  strongest  Synods.  Then  what  must  be  the 
destitutions  elsewhere  ?  A  recent  report  to  the  General  As- 
sembly states  that  "inmost  of  the  Presbyteries  the  unoccu- 
pied territory  far  exceeds  what  has  been  occupied." 

What  shall  be  our  response  to  these  calls  of  God's  provi- 
dence? Shall  we  allow  the  newspapers  to  say  of  us  at  the 
end  of  another  century  as  the  New  York  Times  says  now,  that 
the  Presbyterians  "  have  constantly  missed  their  opportunity, 
while  the  Methodists,  Baptists  and  others  have  been  quick  to 
see  it  ?  "  Or  shall  we  justify  its  prediction  that  this  centen- 
nial will  mark  a  new  departure  in  the  practical  activity  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  ? 

The  Needs  of  the  Work. 

Permit  me,  in  conclusion,  to  present  briefly  a  few  of  the 
more  pressing  needs  of  this  great  work : 

1.  It  needs  more  men.  The  gravest  problem  confronting 
the  Presbyterian  Church  to-day  is  the  problem  of  ministeral 
demand  and  supply.  The  most  alarming  fact  in  our  histor3''is 
that  even  in  the  most  prosperous  periods  of  the  past  we  have 
been  unable  to  give  our  people  a  sufficient  number  of  educa- 
ted ministers.  The  difficulty  is  chronic  and  increasing.  In 
1881  the  Southern  Church  had  six  less  ministers  and  licentiates 
than  in  1880  ;  in  1882  there  was  a  further  decrease  of  twelve  ; 
and  in  1883  a  still  further  decline  of  six,  showing  a  total  loss  of 
twenty-four  ministers  in  three  years — the  aggregate  for  1883 
being  the  same  as  that  of  1877.  In  these  six  years  there  was 
a  gain  of  two  hundred  and  ten  churches  and  about  fifteen 
thousand  communicants  without  the  gain  of  a  single  minister. 
In  1872  we  had  two  hundred  and  five  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  in  1882  only  one  hundred  and  sixty.  And  in  that 
year  the  pastoral  letter  of  the  Assembly  made  this  startling 


134 

announcement :  "  The  decrease  of  ministers,  if  not  remedied, 
must  paralyze  the  Church.  Her  work  must  cease  for  lack  of 
instrumentality  to  carrjit  on."  If  it  is  objected  that  we  have 
taken  our  figures  from  a  time  of  exceptional  decline,  we  reply 
that  the  present  ratio  of  increase  is  nearly  four  additional 
churches  for  every  additional  preacher.  In  the  last  thirteen 
years  we  have  gained  only  one  hundred  and  seventeen  minis- 
ters— an  average  increase  of  only  nine  a  year,  or  less  than  one 
per  cent  per  annum.  At  this  rate  it  will  take  more  than  a 
hundred  years  for  the  number  to  double  itself.  After  citing 
these  disheartening  facts,  the  most  influential  paper  in  the 
Southern  Church  said  last  year  that  "three  alternatives  were 
open  :  either  the  Presbyterian  Church  must  train  more  minis- 
ters— or,  other  denominations  must  do  the  work  of  evangeli- 
zation which  God  has  entrusted  to  us — or,  the  land  will  relapse 
into  practical  heathenism."  The  same  danger  threatens  the 
North  ;  in  a  recent  year  the  net  increase  of  ministers  in  the 
Northern  Church  was  only  eleven. 

What  are  the  causes  of  this  fatal  deficiency  ?  Can  any  one 
consider  the  facts  I  have  stated  without  reaching  the  conclu- 
sion that  hundreds  of  our  young  men  are  called  to  the  ministry 
who  do  not  respond  ?  Unfortunately,  a  superstitious  and  un- 
scriptural  view  of  the  nature  of  this  divine  call,  having  the 
support  of  great  names,  has  been  largely  adopted  and  taught 
in  our  branch  of  the  Church,  so  that  many  of  our  young  men 
do  not  know  what  a  call  to  the  ministry  is.  This  is  undoubt- 
edly one  reason  for  the  deplorable  scarcity  of  candidates 
among  us.  But  is  it  the  only  reason?  Have  we  not  enforced 
too  rigidly  the  requirements  of  our  standards  for  ministerial 
education?  And  shall  we  ever  overtake  our  vast  work  so 
long  as  we  continue  to  debar  from  the  ministry  multitudes  of 
sound  and  earnest  men,  simply  because  they  have  not  received 
a  full  education  ?  To  what  purpose  have  we  studied  the  his- 
tory of  the  Old  and  New  Sides,  if  we  are  to  continue  this 
suicidal  policy  ?  Shall  we  not  rather  renounce  it,  and,  while 
retaining,  and  even  elevating  our  standard  of  scholarship,  as 
the  times  undoubtedly  demand,  yet  also  utilize  more  freely 
these  neglected  forces — these  men  of  piety  and  power,  whose 
only  deficiency  is  a  lack  of  scholastic  training  ?  Henceforth 
let  our  motto  be — More  men  for  Macedonia,  as  well  as  stronger 
men  for  Greece. 

2.  It  needs  more  money.  Our  increasing  destitutions  and 
our  lagging  revenues  foreshadow  a  shameful  failure.  Mr. 
Gladstone  is  not  wrong  in  saying  that  "Ameiica  is  the  wealth- 
iest of  the  nations."  Much  of  this  wealth  is  held  by  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  acknowledge 
that  their  gifts  to  the  Lord  are  larger  than  those  of  any  other 


135 

denomination,  save  one.  The  average  annual  contribution  in 
the  Southern  Church  is  about  $10.00  per  member.  In  the 
Northern  Church  about  $16.00.  It  must  not  be  forgotten, 
however,  that  more  than  two-thirds  of  all  these  funds  go  to 
the  support  of  our  own  home  churches,  and  a  very  small  pro- 
portion to  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missions.  Our  largest  Synod, 
Virginia,  contributes  for  Home  Missions,  outside  of  her  own 
territory,  only  two-and-a-half  cents  per  member,  and  Ken- 
tucky, our  banner  Synod,  gives  for  evangelization,  beyond  her 
own  bounds,  but  ten  cents  per  member. 

If  it  be  true  that,  where  a  man's  treasure  is  there  will  his 
heart  be  also,  then,  arguing  conversely,  the  hearts  of  our  peo- 
ple are  not  in  this  work.  Why  not?  Will  any  man  dare  to 
assert  that  it  is  simply  because  they  are  unfaithful  stewards? 
I  do  not  believe  it.  I  am  persuaded  that  the 'chief  reason  for 
this  delinquency  is  the  failure  of  the  pastors  to  inform  the 
people  of  these  vast  destitutions  and  to  impress  upon  them  the 
paramount  importance  of  the  evangelistic  work.  The  contri- 
batious  of  the  Southern  Church  to  Home  Missions  last  year 
varied  in  different  Presbyteries  from  one-and-a-half  cent  up  to 
seventy-seven  cents  per  member ;  and,  in  tb.e  same  Presbytery, 
of  two  churches,  not  differing  much  as  to  ability,  one  coatri- 
buted  five  times  as  much  as  the  other.  Obviously  this  is  not 
so  much  the  fault  of  the  people  as  of  the  pastors.  And  this 
shameful  inadequacy  of  means  must  continue  so  long  as  we 
fail  to  recognize  that,  for  Home  Missions  as  for  Foreisrn,  facts 
constitute  the  strongest  appeal,  and  that  facts  draw  funds  just 
in  proportion  as  they  are  presented. 

3.  It  needs  more  effective  cooperation.  Not  for  the  purpose 
of  obtruding  my  views  upon  this  Assembly,  but  merely  to 
prevent  misapprehension,  permit  me  to  say  that  in  my  humble 
judgment  Organic  Union  is  at  present  impracticable.  But 
that  is  no  reason  why  we  should  fail  to  establish  a  cordial  and 
fruitful  cooperation  between  the  Home  Mission  agencies  of  the 
two  Assemblies.  We  have  been  preparing  some  humiliating 
chapters  of  Church  history  since  the  war  by  our  wasteful  and 
irritating  competition  in  the  border  States.  The  attempts  to 
sustain  two  Presbyterian  Churches  in  commvini ties  where  only 
one  was  needed  have  been  a  fruitful  cause  of  our  failure  to  secure 
enough  men  and  money  for  the  frontier.  The  people  have 
long  been  asking  when  these  ruinous  rivalries  shall  cease. 
Hundreds  of  ministers  are  now  asking  the  same  question.  Can 
we  not  dismiss  the  animosities  of  the  past  without  sacrificing 
its  principles  of  truth  or  its  examples  of  valor?  Can  we  not 
rise  from  a  provincial  to  a  continental  view  of  the  crisis  that 
is  upon  us  ?  At  a  time  of  great  danger  to  the  nascent  union 
of  the  colonies,  Patrick  Henry  uttered  these  noble  words: 

\ 


136 

"The  distinctions  between  Virginians,  Pennsylvanians,  New 
Yorkers,  and  New  Bnglanders  are  no  more.  I  am  not  a  Vir- 
ginian, but  an  American."  My  brethren,  has  the  time  not 
come  when  each  of  us  should  say,  "  I  am  not  a  Northern  man 
or  a  Southern  man,  I  am  a  Presbyterian?"  At  a  time  of 
extreme  bitterness  and  jealousy  between  the  East  and  the 
West,  Daniel  AVebster  proved  his  patriotism  by  saying  of  the 
Louisville  Canal  Bill:  "I  look  to  the  magnitude  of  the  object, 
and  not  to  its  locality.  I  ask  not  whether  it  be  east  or  west 
of  the  mountains.  There  are  no  Alleghenies  in  my  politics." 
Has  the  time  not  come  when  we  too  should  rise  to  a  policy 
which  is  not  sectional  in  its  scope  but  national,  and  roll  away 
our  reproach  by  declaring  to  the  world  that  there  is  no  longer 
a  war  line  in  our  work?  The  time  has  come.  And  not  even 
the  courtiers  of'Counte  were  guilty  of  greater  folly  than  those 
who  imagine  that  this  tide  of  fraternity  which  is  rising  in 
obedience  to  heavenly  forces  can  be  stayed  by  the  command 
of  any  mortal,  even  though  he  be  a  king.  And  as  for  the 
rest,  let  us  I'emember  that  on  a  critical  occasion  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  while  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  were  quarrel- 
ing, within  sight  of  the  foe,  over  points  of  Church  discipline, 
the  Battle  of  Bothwell  Bridge  was  lost.  Let  us  remember, 
too,  that  in  the  seventh  century,  while  the  eastern  Churches 
were  "wrangling  over  Monothelite  subtleties"  the  scimitar  of 
Islam  was  subjugating  their  territory. 

Such  is  our  history.  Such  our  opportunity.  Such  our 
needs.  Oh,  for  the  faith  and  foresight  of  the  fathers!  In 
Philadelphia's  great  park  stands  a  colossal  statue  of  one  of 
those  founders  of  organized  missions.  His  name  and  the 
names  of  his  contemporaries  are  luminous  in  our  history,  and 
we  are  here  to-day  to  honor  their  memory  and  celebrate  their 
wisdom.  But  no  marble,  however  noble;  no  history,  however 
faithful ;  no  eulogy,  however  eloquent,  can  adequately  honor 
their  glorious  work.  Deeds  alone  can  worthily  commemorate 
deeds  like  theirs.  In  their  day  a  great  Frenchman  said  ot  our 
country:  "It  is  the  hope  of  the  human  race."  They  accepted 
the  responsibility  involved  in  that  belief,  and  labored  wisely 
and  earnestly  for  the  evangelization  of  the  country  in  the  out- 
set of  her  career.  In  our  own  day  a  great  Englishman  has 
said:  "  America  holds  the  future."  Tliat  remark  ought  to 
thrill  the  people  of  God  like  the  blast  of  a  bugle,  for  it  is  the 
measure  of  an  unequaled  opportunity  and  an  awful  responsi- 
bility. Sir  Walter  Scott  tells  us  tliat  in  the  early  days  of 
Scotland,  whenever  Clan  Alpine  was  going  forth  to  battle,  a 
flaming  cross  dipped  in  blood  was  sent  in  the  hands  of  a  run- 
ner to  every  home  in  the  clan,  and  at  that  signal  all  the  war- 
riors mustered  to  the  appointed  rendezvous,  ready  to  fight  for 


137 

their  country's  weal.  And  whoso  disregarded  that  battle 
signal  and  failed  to  repair  to  the  gathering  of  Clan  Alpine 
was  branded  as  a  coward  and  cursed  as  a  traitor.  To-day  the 
Church  of  God  sends  her  signal  to  all  her  members — the  cross 
bathed  in  the  Redeemer's  blood — and  by  this  token  she  sum- 
mons us  all  to  the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the 
Lord  against  the  mighty.  We  are  the  last  reserve  of  the 
world  for  God's  work.  America  will  determine  the  destiny  of 
the  race.  What  shall  be  said  of  those  who,,  professing  allegi- 
ance to  Christ  and  holding  membership  in  His  Church,  living 
in  such  a  country  at  such  a  time,  yet  disregard  this  solemn 
signal  and  neglect  this  supreme  opportunity  ?  Are  they  not 
traitors  to  the  most  sacred  cause  in  the  universe  ?  May  God 
avert  from  us  the  curse  of  Meroz.  Let  us  obey  this  summons. 
Let  us  rally  to  this  standard.  Let  us  secure  this  country. 
And  thus  let  us  win  the  world  for  God. 


\ 


FOREIGN   MISSIONS. 


By  Rev.  Chas.  S.  Pomeroy,  D.D., 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 


FATHERS  and  bretliren — ladies  and  gentlemen  : 
One  century  ago,  my  topic  to-night  would  have  sounded 

like  some  crying  voice  in  the  wilderness,  lonesome,  un- 
recognized. Through  all  this  broad  land,  Foreign  Missions 
were  unknown.  The  Presbyterian  Church  was  bom,  but  For- 
eign Missions  were  not  born  with  it.  In  vigor  of  patriotic 
independence.  Christian  life  was  pulsing  on  the  fringe  of  east- 
ern shore  that  formed  our  country  then.  Across  the  water 
had  come  faint  notes  of  missionary  preparation.  Tiie  colo- 
nists of  this  land,  from  Columbus  to  the  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
claimed  evangelizing  purposes.  Some  tried  to  fulfill  them. 
But  generally  the  bushel  of  indifference  hid  the  light  of  God. 
No  wonder  the  times  were  dark  as  night  in  the  history  of  Pro- 
testant Christianity.  Culture,  philosophy,  science,  the  spirit 
of  the  times  were  all  against  it.  Aggression  had  departed  from 
its  purposes.  Among  the  highest  circles  of  human  influence, 
it  seemed  hardly  important  enough  to  be  despised.  Humble 
efforts  of  those  few  earnest  souls  whoremembered  their  Lord's 
commission  and  pitied  the  perishing,  were  laughed  to  scorn,  as 
the  people  served  Christ  over  the  dead  girl  at  Capernaum. 
The  very  churches  now  foremost  in  missions  denounced  them. 
Many  were  not  only  non-missionary,  but  anti-missionary. 
Asleep  under  the  opened  heavens,  while  the  ascending  Saviour 
with  the  clouds  underfoot  sent  down  His  last  command,  not  a 
promise — "  I  will  come  to  teach  the  world  My  grace,"  but  a 
challenge — "  Go  ye  disciple  the  nations."  Yet,  facing  the  ob- 
stacles before  it,  faith  was  not  strong  enough  to  launch  out 
upon  the  promises.  Conscience  was  not  utterly  at  ease.  Duty, 
that  never  came  to  boiling  point,  was  simmering  in  the 
Church's  heart. 

Lord  Bacon  could  tell  the  people  in  his  day,  bow  merchants 
had  made  paths  to  the  ends  of  the  world  for  ])earls  and  spices, 
but  not  a  mast  had  been  set  up  to  sail  for  the  pearls  of  the 


139 

Kingdom  of  Heaven.  It  was  a  little  better  a  century  beyond. 
Centrifugal  power  was  lacking. 

Meanwhile  the  world  was  large.  Its  magnificent  distances 
were  appalling.  We  had  no  "  thunderless  lightnings  smiting 
under  seas,"  to  bring  men  nearer  in  thought.  No  rapid  tran- 
sit, no  propellers  churning  brine,  to  narrow  the  globe  in  space. 
Every  gate  seemed  bolted.  Yet  whenever  absolute  determi- 
nation approached  and  fearless  faith,  doors  always  stood  ajar 
enough  to  let  the  hero  in. 

The  Church  of  Rome,  in  the  heart  of  many  a  heathen  land, 
showed  what  might  have  been  done.  In  mercy  of  our  God, 
there  came  resuscitation  of  moribund  faith  in  missions.  Tides 
of  prayer  and  grace  rolled  in,  sinking  deep,  spreading  far.  Till 
just  before  this  century  came  on,  not  only  England,  but  the 
Protestant  world  w'as  rubbing  its  awakened  eyes.  Then  began 
warm  hands  in  increasing  numbers  to  hold  the  ropes,  while 
William  Carey,  and  those  who  followed  him,  went  down  into 
the  death  pits  of  heathendom.  His  two  great  mottoes  are 
ringing  in  the  Church  to-day,  "Expect  great  things  from  God," 
"  Attempt  great  things  for  God." 

Kindled  flames  of  holy  zeal  spread  and  caught  in  every  di- 
rection like  a  prairie  fire.  Tiie  heavenly  wind  was  west- 
ward. Across  the  ocean  leaped  the  tongues  of  flame,  till  this 
land  was  here  and  there  ablaze.  Our  own  Church  took  lire  at 
last  and  fully  joined  the  invading  forces  before  the  first  third  of 
the  century  had  rolled  by.  We  had  rediscovered  one  of  the 
lost  arts  of  Christian  fidelity.  This  has  become  a  shrunken 
world  since  then.  Two-thirds  of  all  mission  fields  lie  within 
fifty  days  of  us.  Every  ]Hish  at  the  barriers  became  resistless 
by  tlie  Almighty's  hand  behind  it.  Neither  opium  wars,  nor 
British  guns,  nor  grasping  East  India  companies  can  claim 
the  glory,  though  God  used  even  foul  greed  of  commerce,  and 
base  pride  of  power  to  help  His  peaceful  arables  on.  But  Af- 
frica,  Siam,  Japan,  Korea,  stand  open  as  widely  without  a 
grain  of  gunpowder.  Before  our  surprise  could  grasp  the  fact, 
the  seventh  circuit  of  this  vast  Jericho  was  made,  and  the 
walls  were  flat.  All  lands  are  open.  Now  for  the  grace  to  go 
in  and  possess  the  earth  for  Christ.  "Lo,  I  am  with  you,"  is 
the  warrant  of  our  triumph.  Who  cares  to  count  the  odds? 
One  promise  of  our  God  is  worth  all  the  statistics  of  a  century. 
IIow  stands  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  tardy  rally  of 
Christendom?  Brief  traverse  of  what  we  have  attempted 
already,  will  fit  us  better  to  decide  in  sight  of  God,  and  of  the 
Christian  world,  what  should  be  expected  from  our  equipment 
and  our  opportunity. 

As  early  as  1796-7  the  New  York  and  Northern  ]\[issionary 
Societies,  mostly  Presbyterian,  were  organized  for  work  among 


140 

Indians,  The  Assembly  itself,  in  1800,  made  appointments 
of  missionaries  for  similar  duty.  As  matter  of  liistory,  not 
one  of  the  tribes  then  reached  to  any  extent  by  the  Gospel 
took  hostile  part  against  us  in  the  war  of  1812.  After  some 
brief  cooperation  of  our  Assembly  with  sister  churches,  our 
distinctive  organized  Presbyterian  Foreign  Missions  took  root 
late  in  1831,  when  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh,  then  the  most 
active  Synod  of  our  Church  in  mission  effort,  formed  the  West- 
ern Foreign  Mission  Society.  For  sixty  years,  until  1870,  a 
large  body  of  Presbyterians  alwaj^s  preferred  to  act  through 
the  enterprising  and  prosperous  American  Board, 

Another  portion  of  the  Church  desired  their  missions  under 
distinct  ecclesiastical  appointment  and  responsibility.  This 
was  now  effected  for  the  first  time.  After  several  attempts, 
the  Pittsburgh  Society  was  transferred  to  the  Forty- eighth 
General  Assembly  in  1837,  and  our  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions was  launched  in  faith  and  hope.  With  a  treasury  for 
1883  of  $61:32,  we  began  with  the  Indians,  our  nearest  hea- 
then; not  so  sure  that  anything  else  was  open. 

The  Church  had  not  learned  that  the  entering  wedge-point 
anywhere  among  the  nations  would  find  God's  hand  hammer- 
ing on  the  broad  end,  to  turn  a  crevice  into  a  rent,  then  into 
doors  flung  wide.  So  we  took  the  Gospel  to  our  aborigines, 
already  forced  back  from  their  old  hunting  grounds,  beginning 
to  learn  the  j^erfidy  of  a  so-called  Christian  government,  whose 
most  solemn  pledges  began  to  be  made  to  the  Indians  101 
years  ago,  and  sadly  we  know  it,  were  never  kept. 

We  started  with  a  small  tribe  in  that  part  of  the  wilderness 
now  blossomed  out  into  the  State  of  Kansas.  Sooner  or  later 
nearly  400  missionaries  were  commissioned  to  sixteen  tribes, 
the  sum  of  $600,000  expended,  and  as  much  more  entrusted  to 
us  by  the  Government  for  educational  work,  in  its  amended, 
enlightened,  economical  policy  of  educating  and  Christianiz- 
ing the  Indians  into  citizenship,  instead  of  robbing  and  then 
fighting  them.  Ten  per  cent  of  our  missionary  force  is  among 
them  now,  and  likely  long  to  be,  seeking  to  reach  the  sixty 
tribes  yet  Pagan. 

The  work  will  doubtless  be  gradually  surrendered  to  the 
Home  Board,  as  in  the  Indian  Territory  lately,  so  fast  as  Chris- 
tian teaching  in  English  can  be  effectively  pursued.  Confes- 
sedly no  method  for  Indian  elevation  has  been  comparable  to 
the  labors  of  evangelical  missions.  The  red  man's  capacity  for 
becoming  citizen  and  Christian  has  received  its  demonstration. 
Scores  of  elders,  whose  names  sound  still  as  savage  as  their 
fathers',  stand  enrolled  in  our  Church  courts.  Evangelized  In- 
dians have  never  been  otherwise  than  true  to  the  pale-faced 
races  that  contain  their  revered  missionaries.  Always  friendly, 


141 

never  treaclierous,  protecting  their  teachers  from  cruelty  of  sav- 
age vengeance.  Teach  them  English,  yes;  but  let  not  Govern- 
mental meddling  doom  the  older  ones  to  die  without  tidings  of 
grace,  because  they  are  rusty  in  the  language  of  the  land. 

Then,  full  as  early  in  the  start,  but  with  longer  delay  in 
reaching  their  posts,  Pinuey  and  Lowrie  were  pushing  toward 
the  sun-rising,  the  pioneers  of  all  our  enterprises  in  the  Orient 
— the  one  to  land  on  the  forehead  of  the  Dark  Continent  at 
Liberia,  the  other  to  disbark  at  the  point  of  India's  great  cor- 
nucopia and  spend  a  year  and  a-half  from  PhiLadelphia, 
climbing  through  dense  populations  toward  the  top,  broad 
East  and  West,  as  from  New  York  to  Omaha,  till  he  drew 
rein  at  Lodiana.  From  that  centre,  God  has  given  us  our  share 
of  the  conflicts  and  the  victories.  What  a  hive  of  humau 
life !  Crowd  all  our  60,000,000  four  times  over  into  our  terri- 
tory east  of  the  Mississippi  and  jon  have  only  the  density  of 
India. 

Tlie  battle  has  been  long  with  Satan's  masterpiece  of  caste, 
with  the  subtleness  and  mental  acuteness  of  Brahminism,  with 
Mohammedanism,  grown  hotter  and  more  truculent  by  cross- 
ing the  equator ;  with  imported  European  infidelities  to  de- 
ceive the  changing  peoples.  Not  for  nothing  has  Victoria 
become  an  Asiatic  empress.  Child  marriages  and  persecuted 
widowhood  will  go  the  way  of  suttees  and  crushings  of  Jug- 
gernaut, and  so  one  horrid  current  of  distress  be  stayed.  But, 
except  for  pressure  of  Christian  influence,  British  bayonets 
w^ould  continue  to  uphold  idolatrj'-  in  places  where  men  now 
sharpen  their  knives  on  the  feet  of  the  stone  idols  which  they 
used  to  worship. 

This  juncture  finds  us  with  four  flourishing  central  missions, 
each  now  a  Presbytery,  in  the  north,  and  our  Mahratta  south- 
west field  at  Kolhapur.  We  have  an  increase  of  fourteen  per 
cent  in  covenant  members  within  the  year  to  swell  the  half- 
million  of  Christian  communicants. 

With  fifty  other  foreign  societies  joined  in  the  colossal  effort 
Christianity  has  perhaps  one  mi.ssionary  to  every  400,000 
souls.  Yet  the  world  has  no  match  for  the  rapid  spread  of 
Christian  influence  in  India  for  twenty  years  by  gone.  Every 
decade  marks  a  doubled  growth.  At  even  present  rates  living 
men  will  yet  see  with  eyes  of  flesh  twice  as  many  Christians  in 
India  as  in  all  the  United  States  to-day.  The  glacier  is 
moving,  honeycombed  at  every  step.  Its  lower  edges  have 
melted  away  already  into  the  rising  flood  of  Christian 
thought. 

In  Africa  our  early  mission  ventures  were  cautious  and 
perilous.  Deadly  fevers  threatened  the  workers,  decimated 
their  ranks.     In  1849,  searching  from  Liberia  for  healthier 


142 

stations,  the  Island  of  Corisco  was  occupied,  and  tlie  mainland 
reached  from  there.  In  1870  Gaboon  Mission  was  added  bj 
transference  from  the  American  Board.  Our  work  pressed  up 
the  rivers  inland,  reaching  the  natives  with  blessed  power. 
Last  year  160  Ogove  men  and  women  intelligently  came  out 
for  Christ.  But  France  in  her  colonial  policy  decreed  tiiatno 
other  language  than  her  own  should  reach  those  people,  so 
playing  into  Jesuit  hands.  Our  progress  is  checked — the  field 
surrendered  for  the  time — hopeful  that  French  Protestant 
societies  may  be  led  to  adopt  the  work  as  it  drops  from  our 
reluctant  grasp.  But  surely  iu  that  vast  interior  of  continental 
darkness  will  be  an  opening  yet,  to  brighten  it  for  Christ. 
Where  saintly  Livingstone  expired  on  his  knees,  working  to 
loose  the  accursed  slave-trade's  grip  from  the  throat  of  Africa; 
where  intrepid  Stanley  has  proved  a  John  Baptist  of  missions, 
his  work  like  a  thunderbolt  that  cleaves  miasmatic  air,  when 
no  one  not  a  streak  of  lightning  like  himself  could  have  suf- 
ficed for  the  task ;  where  the  commerce  of  fifteen  great 
nations  will  be  pushing  into  the  rich  basin  of  the  Congo  Free 
State,  whose  liberty  they  have  guaranteed;  here  we  shall 
yet  meet  our  obligation  in  helping  to  save  those  fifty  millions 
darker  in  soul  than  skin.  Press  our  government  meanwhile  to 
recede  from  branding  us  before  the  world  as  the  only  nation 
of  the  league  refusing  to  exclude  from  that  brightening  land 
the  deadly  curse  of  rum. 

It  was  our  privilege  to  plant  the  cross  in  Si  am  first  in  1840, 
and  to  monopolize  since  then  the  evangelization  of  that  race. 
With  hostility  and  persecution  met  at  first,  it  took  twelve 
years  to  make  a  convert.  But  they  have  been  coming  ever 
since.  The  "Light  of  Asia"  in  those  people  for  centuries 
proved  nothing  more  than  utter  darkness.  Now  from  Bangkok 
to  the  Northern  Laos  villages  persecution  has  changed  to 
notable  popular  favor.  A  humane  and  liberal  monarch  basset 
marked  approval  upon  our  missionaries.  He  aids  with  sub- 
stantial tokens  of  regard  the  medical  and  educational  branches 
of  their  work,  though  he  knows  that  the  Gospel  saturates  them 
both.  With  such  immense  undivided  responsibility  as  ours, 
the  possession  of  that  land,  its  emancipation  from  slavery  and 
vicious  superstitions  and  the  vigorous  training  of  a  native  min- 
istry from  among  our  800  Siamese  church  members,  might  well 
encourage  generous  reinforcement  to  the  score  of  overworked 
missionary  laborers.  Buddhism  is  dragging  its  anchors  and 
being  swept  down  stream.  Only  one- fourth  the  Buddhist 
priests  are  in  Bangkok  that  there  were  thirty  years  ago. 
Mighty  harvests  are  waiting  the  sowers  and  reapers  on  that 
fertile  field. 

When  our  Board  sent  out  its  first  missionaries  to  the  great 


143 

Mongolian  races  in  1838,  approach  was  not  possible,  for  five 
years,  nearer  than  Singapore,  to  the  walled  empire  Avho-^e  four 
hundred  millions,  sealed  hermetically  against  God's  truth,  were 
only  just  opened  with  some  freedom  to  the  light  of  life  eternal. 
Nobly  for  forty  years  our  missionaries  have  done  their  part  in 
South  and  North  China,  with  voice  and  pen  and  press,  with 
school  and  hospital,  in  famine  and  plenty,  in  wars  and  insurrec- 
tions, in  home  and  street  and  chapel,  in  fatiguing  but  most 
effective  itineracies,  with  ninety-eight  men  and  women  for  our 
force.  We  are  occupying  cities  large  as  Chicago  with  workers 
counted  on  one  hand's  fingers,  and  for  mere  outstations,  cities 
of  a  quarter  million  souls.  Yet  the  undermining  has  begun. 
Hundreds  of  pagodas  are  falling  into  irresistible  decay.  De- 
serted temples  are  beginning  to  be  leased  for  our  chapels. 
Never  has  one  convert  been  condemned  for  crime.  Canton 
Christian  College  is  open.  The  great  Hainan  Island  is  occu- 
pied, our  last  accession.  The  wonderful  Inland  Mission  is 
teaching  us  and  others  what  can  be  done  at  once  by  new-comers 
preaching  Christ  from  foreign  lips,  when  native  Christian 
interpreters  can  be  had. 

The  history  of  the  Gospel  in  Japan  sounds  like  the  romance 
of  a  dream.  While  our  pilgrim  fathers  were  landing  on  these 
shores,  Japanese  were  driving  out  intriguing  papacy.  Feet 
crimsoned  in  Christian  blood  were  trampling  on  the  cross 
with  threats  that  the  Christian  or  the  Christian's  God  who 
came  to  their  soil  again  should  lose  his  head.  The  gates  then 
slammed  shut  for  centuries,  to  beoj)ened  peacefully  ouly  thirty- 
five  years  ago  by  an  American  Christian  Commodore,  who 
sang  "Old  Hundred"  in  face  of  all  their  bolts  on  the  Lord's 
day.  A  floating  Bible  captured  the  nobleman  who  picked  it 
up  at  sea  and  started  conversion  from  within.  In  1859  our 
missionaries  came  to  share  with  others  the  approaching  con- 
quest. Unparalleled  changes  towards  the  life  and  thought  of 
Christian  lands  astonish  the  world.  The  f^imiliar  cone  of 
Fusiyama  is  there  as  usual.  All  else  is  different.  People  are 
eager  for  the  Gospel.  Thousands  fill  the  theatres  to  hear  it. 
Congregations  not  sated  by  seven  sermons  in  a  single  day.  An 
intensely  missionary  style  of  Christianity  is  forming,  with  a 
speed  too  that  seems  to  refute  the  truth,  that  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven  cometh  not  with  observation.  The  very  men  who 
even  five  years  ago  sounded  public  alarm,  lest  Japan  should  be 
transformed  into  a  Christian  nation,  now  advocate  adopting  the 
^ew  faith  as  a  political  measure,  to  save  the  empire  from 
lagging  behind  the  world,  lest  her  "sunrise  glory,"  as  they  put 
it,  "  should  turn  to  the  fading  glory  of  the  sunset." 

So  with  varying  speed,  but  always  with  advance,  the  Lord's 
work  pushes  on.     No  land  where  our    missions  arc  planted 


144 

has  become  absolutely  Christian  yet,  like  Fiji  or  New  Zealand 
or  Madagascar.  In  strange  Korea  we  have  a  splendid  foot- 
hold. The  First  Presbyterian  Church  is  on  its  leet  with  its 
first  score  of  members,  and  the  government  is  mildly  content 
to  let  the  laws  against  us  slumber,  waiting  their  sure  repeal. 

Three  great  empires  represent  the  waning  strength  of  hea- 
thendom to-day.  China  with  its  400  millions,  India  with  its 
250  millions,  the  Turkish  Empire  representing  Mahommedan- 
ism  with  50  miUions.  The  last  has  the  proselyting  religion  of 
the  three.  There  from  the  centres  of  Syria  and  Persia,  both 
transferred  to  us  by  the  American  Board  in  1870,  influences 
for  the  Gospel  are  percolating  through  all  the  world  of  Islam. 

Persia's  one  station  has  grown  to  five,  with  schools,  schol- 
ars and  communicants  doubled  within  ten  years.  The  col- 
lege at  Oroomiah,  over-crowded  with  students,  shines  in  the 
same  bright  galaxy  of  institutions  with  Robert,  Beirut,  Can- 
ton and  the  rest.  The  Syrian  busy  mission  press  is  throwing 
ofi'  thirty-three  million  pages  a  year,  half  of  them  Scripture,  to 
spread  from  Damascus  to  Calcutta,  understood  by  a  Mussel- 
man  of  any  nation,  since  he  keeps  his  Arabic  fresh,  by  read- 
ing his  Koran. 

This  is  only  second  in  performance  to  our  press  at  Shang- 
hai, the  largest  of  our  eight,  that  flings  oft"  forty-five  mil- 
lion Cliinese  pages  annually  and  stands  the  most  extensive 
printing  establishment  in  the  missionary  world.  Truly  typo- 
graphic art  has  proved  full  substitute  for  the  lost  gift  of 
tongues. 

The  Syrian  mission  came  to  us  well  grown,  with  veteran  la- 
borers from  the  American  Board,  and  a  grand  record  for  the 
pioneers  like  Pliny  Fisk,  Eli  Smith,  Jonas  King  and  others. 
Fortunate  for  the  Church  and  the  world,  that  by  God's  grace, 
such  men  as  bear  the  burdens  of  that  important  field,  could  be 
ready  to  take  their  mantles  when  they  fell. 

Then  crossing  to  our  own  hemisphere  again,  we  assume  our 
increasing  share  in  bringing  the  light  of  a  pure  Gospel  among 
the  dense  ignorance  and  blinded  superstitions  of  corrupted 
Christianity  in  Romish  lands,  where  the  errors  taught  and 
allowed,  practically  neutralize  the  truth  that  remains. 

In  Brazil,  full  of  Jesuit  intrigue,  where  83  per  cent  can 
neither  read  nor  write ;  in  Mexico,  until  recently  given  up  for 
three  centuries  to  unchallenged  Papal  dominion;  in  Colombia, 
with  its  United  States  upon  our  basis;  in  Chili,  with  its  stable 
rule,  vast  wealth  and  wretched  morals,  and  in  Guatemala,  with 
its  authorities  welcoming  our  scanty  mission  forces  and  swing- 
ing oft'  from  Rome;  in  these  fields  of  our  efibrt,  God's  provi- 
dence is  vindicating  the  wisdom  of  entering  such  nations  where 
the  governments  themselves  are  breaking  with  the  spiritual 


145 

tyrannies  that  have  enslaved  them,  and  holding  in  tight 
rein  the  priestly  greed  and  abuses  that  had  well  nigh  eaten 
out  tlieir  national  life.  In  no  part  of  the  world  is  Rome  so 
cribbed  and  cabined  as  in  Popish  Mexico.  The  hierarchy's 
acquisitiveness  has  been  sternly  checked.  Not  a  j)riestly  gar- 
ment or  display  is  allowed  upon  the  streets. 

Persecution  at  times  has  swept  our  mission  forces  in  those 
lands.  Priestly  hands  have  built  street  bonfires  of  our  Bibles. 
Many  converts  with  their  teachers  have  sealed  their  faith  in 
blood.  But  the  governments  are  fair  and  protective.  Their 
effort  is  to  administer  justice  upon  evil-doers,  and  the  work  of 
gracious  Protestant  illumination  goes  grandly  on.  While 
many  another  neighboring  State  waits  to  have  its  spiritual 
darkness  pierced,  when  the  American  churches  can  rise  to 
take  in  the  needs  of  those  who  share  with  them  this  hemis- 
phere. In  most  Spanish-American  States,  the  past  is  dead. 
New  furrows  are  ploughing  through  the  fallow  fields  of  na- 
tional life.  The  question  presses  mightily,  whether  the  pure 
seed  of  Christ's  kingdom,  or  the  unfriendly  tares  of  a  godless, 
infidel  culture  shall  be  the  sowing  and  the  harvest.  This  al- 
ternative faces  the  Papal  States  of  Europe  too,  where  we  are 
lending  some  aid  in  the  great  struggle  through  the  hands  of 
our  brethren  of  the  Waldensian  Church  and  other  allied  bod- 
ies in  the  Presbyterian  Council.  So  in  many  a  land  of  Pagan- 
ism to-day,  it  is  a  tussle  of  Christian  faith  with  infidelity,  a 
race  neck  and  neck,  which  shall  have  the  heathen,  as  their 
sinking  crafts  go  to  pieces  under  them. 

Finally  our  Foreign  Board  followed  up  its  oriental  missions, 
by  consistent,  effective  efforts  to  evangelize  the  floating  Chinese 
and  Japanese  that  strike  our  shores.  When  the  Pagans  slip 
through  the  meshes  of  our  net  abroad,  we  try  to  catch  them 
for  Christ  in  the  nearer  waters  of  a  Christian  civilization. 

Now,  as  for  the  ordained  missionaries  who  have  borne 
Christ's  banner  in  our  uniform,  honor  belongs  as  the  peers  of 
any  in  Protestant  Christendom.  The  world  is  owing  its  debt 
to  them  as  explorers,  as  investigators  in  science ;  authorities  in 
ethnology ;  linguists,  mastering  the  world's  tongues  to  make 
them  speak  for  God,  conquering  each  vernacular  till  they  can 
often  teach  the  native  philologists  the  refinements  of  their 
idioms  and  literature.  As  translators  and  publishers,  as  edi* 
tors  and  diplomatists,  men  of  their  class  have  been  steadily 
winning  the  respect  of  Christendom  with  the  mere  fringe  of 
their  endeavor;  while  the  main  bulk  and  texture  of  their  er- 
rand, the  only  thing  that  could  have  sent  them  on  such  life- 
work,  was  not  to  civilize  uncouth  bodies,  but  to  save  lost  souls. 
And  as  for  character,  it  could  be  affirmed  of  multitudes,  what 
Theodore  Parker  said  of  Adoniram  Judson,   that  his  char- 


146 

acter  was  wortTi  more  to  the  world  as  an  example  of  exalted 
living  than  all  the  money  ever  expended  in  Foreign  Missions. 
Keen-eyed  rulers,  watching  their  career,  have  been  ready  to 
confess  with  governors  in  India,  "  They  have  been  the  salt  of 
the  country,  the  true  saviours  of  the  empire." 

It  never  was  good  for  man  to  be  alone.  No  whit  less  noble 
or  necessary  have  been  the  missionaries'  wives,  and  the  unmar- 
ried women  of  the  missions,  to  give  their  examples  with  their 
teaching  of  what  womanhood  may  be  when  emancipated  and 
ennobled  by  the  Gospel.  "  Woman's  work  for  woman,"  yet 
for  man  as  well.  How  they  have  drawn  in,  as  by  a  whirl- 
wind of  steady  enthusiasm,  their  sisters  at  home  to  organize 
and  pray  and  give,  to  administer  and  exhort  as  was  never 
dreamed  of  earlier  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  A  marvel  of 
this  latter  day.  To  gather  two  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars 
into  the  foreign  treasury  in  fifteen  years  bygone,  helping  their 
sisters  in  the  dark ;  learning  to  look  at  Jesus  through  the  eyes 
of  converted  heathen  women,  and  realize  the  uplift  of  His 
grace. 

It  was  a  Christian  woman's  needle  that  pierced  the  Indian 
zenanas,  and  women  that  followed  are  beginning  to  puncture 
and  riddle  the  desolate  seclusion  of  benighted  womanhood  the 
world  over.  Girls'  education  in  our  schools  abroad  is  revolu- 
tionizing heathendom.  But  who  shall  estimate  the  power  of 
Christian  motherhood  in  rearing  a  missionary  generation, 
since  the  interest  of  this  work  began  to  gather  around  our 
hallowed  hearth-stones?  Boys  and  girls,  yet  within  their  teens, 
are  growing  up  in  hosts  to  take  the  places  of  their  elders  soon, 
trained  to  systematic  giving  in  the  Sabbath-school;  better 
equipped  with  the  intelligence  and  zealous  generosity  of  mis- 
sions, than  any  generation  that  ever  lived ;  more  likely  to  be 
welcomed  volunteers  in  this  great  conquering  crusade,  when 
the  Church  musters  courage  and  cash  to  send  them. 

Our  medical  missionaries,  one-third  of  them  women,  have 
been  the  invaluable  videttes  and  guerillas  of  our  force  in 
every  mission  land.  They  enter  where  no  other  workers 
would  be  allowed  to  come.  Trained  and  competent,  they 
never  need  wait  to  learn  the  language.  Ready  to  begin  their 
blessed  work  at  once  and  reach  the  body  on  their  way  to  the 
80ul.  Fever  or  fracture  is  identical  in  Ningpo  and  in  New 
York.  Human  suffering  speaks  a  universal  vernacular.  Their 
success  in  winning  confidence  is  tenfold  what  it  otherwise 
could  be.  In  their  hospitals  and  dispensaries  where  50,000 
patients  are  treated  every  year,  they  are  finding  rare  inlets  to 
the  lives  they  want  to  heal  eternally. 

All  honor  then  to  the  Board  that  stands  between  this  work 
and   tlie   churches,   the   wise,   faithful   counsellor,  the  strong 


147 

right  arm  of  both.  It  numbers  fifteen  ministers  and  elders, 
instead  of  eighty  as  at  first,  a  far  more  compact  and  business- 
like body.  Its  executive  officers  have  pften  shown  that 
devoteduess  to  a  sacred  cause  like  this  is  no  monofX)ly  of 
ministers.  I  can  surely  not  ofi'end  in  this  presence,  if,  repre- 
senting many  kindred  spirits,  I  place  in  the  high  niche  it 
fills  in  Presbyterian  memory,  crowned  with  the  laurels  of  an 
apostolic  consecration,  the  honored  name  of  Walter  Lowrie. 
Two  sons  he  gave  to  lay  down  lives  for  Christ  and  China, 
while  another  lives  and  works  with  fifty-six  years  of  honor- 
able service  against  his  name  in  the  peerage  of  Presbyterian 
missions.  Rejoicing  faith  looks  through  such  eyes  to-day,  and 
sees  what  in  one  man's  lifetime  has  been  wrought  ot  God. 
Bounden  tribute  could  hardly  meet  fair  payment,  either,  with- 
out praise  for  the  closing  thirty-seven  years'  treasurership  of 
William  Rankin, 

Our  Church's  part  of  the  general  advance  is  a  leap  from 
nothing  to  thirty-four  missions  in  sixteen  countries,  with  500 
missionaries  of  both  sexes,  and  300  native  preachers  speaking 
over  thirty  languages.  Our  Board  holds  property  in  institu- 
tions and  buildings  by  the  hundreds  in  many  lands.  23,000 
communicants  in  312  churches,  with  25,000  pupils  in  schools 
and  serninaries,  represent  the  hundreds  of  thousands  already 
evangelized  and  under  Gospel  teaching  through  our  denomi- 
nation. 

The  beginning  of  the  end  is  coming,  when  as  now,  the  native 
preachers  are  outnumbering  the  missionaries.  The  branches- 
of  the  Banyan  tree  arc  taking  root.  Reproduction  is  the  end  of 
a  Church  as  of  a  plant.  Pastors  are  rising  from  the  native 
churches,  not  trained  away  from  home,  tQ  be  spoiled  by  rear- 
ing barriers  of  social  gradation  between  their  people  and  . 
themselves.  Not  much  longer  will  it  hold  true,  that  the 
greater  the  spiritual  success  of  a  mission,  the  heavier  it  bur- 
dens the  society  that  upholds  it.  Lands  there  are,  where  the 
work  would  go  on,  if  all  missionaries  were  recalled  to-morrow. 
Yet  we  want  to  give  them  not  mere  unripe  rudiments  of  faith, 
but  the  perfected  fruit  as  we  have  plucked  it. 

Self-support  on  all  the  fields  is  hopefully  advanced.  In  the 
Pacific  are  island  groups  that  have  long  swung  off  from  all 
ai^  and  are  doing  their  own  Foreign  Mission  work.  Two-thirds 
of  the  American  Board's  churches  of  Ceylon  and  India 
receive  nothing  from  its  treasury.  Only  two  bodies  among  our 
Baptist  brethren  are  doing  any  more  to  swell  its  Foreign  Mis- 
sion treasury  than  its  own  mission  church  of  Burmah, 
This  is  our  ideal ;  we  shall  seek  it  with  a  will.  Among  our 
missions,  godly  generosities  are  alive  here  and  there  that 
fairly  shame  the  home  churches.     When  India  has  become 


148 

evangelized  like  Pennsylvania ;  when  the  Christian  nation  of 
Japan  is  sending  its  missions  across  the  Yellow  Sea ;  when 
Home  Missions,  indeed,  shall  be  the  only  work  on  every  shore, 
all  that  is  foreign  shall  be  the  ministries  of  fellowship  between 
a  United  States  of  Christian  nations ;  then,  indeed,  the  coming 
of  our  Lord  is  nigh. 

It  may  be  upon  mission-fields,  too,  that  the  problem  of 
Christian  unity  shall  find  solution.  A  union  spirit  is  on 
the  air.  No  Church  will  give  it  warmer  sympathy  than 
ours.  Always  our  influence  was  unifying,  pledged  as  we 
are,  by  antecedents  and  belief,  to  broad  catholic  affilia- 
tions. We,  the  earliest  to  act  a  year  ago,  arranging 
even  to  dissolve  our  Presbyteries  for  merging  on  the  field 
with  union  bodies  in  harmony  with  reformed  polity  and 
doctrine.  Yet,  still  our  missionaries  can  come  to  Assembly  at 
the  Church's  expense,  and  lose  no  claim  for  themselves  and 
their  families  upon  the  Belief  Fund.  Why  perpetuate  our 
differences,  while  the  converted  natives  know  of  none  ?  This 
is  a  wise  and  Christ-like  move.  We  will  make  Presbyterian 
Christians  when  we  can,  but  Christians  anyhow.  Eeady  are 
we  to  carry  it  further,  too.  On  petals  of  a  fiower,  on  surface 
of  a  leaf,  stand  drops  of  dew,  rounded,  poised,  severed.  They 
are  alike,  but  their  individual  cohesion  exceeds  that  of  each 
for  the  other.  But  the  wind  rises,  there  comes  a  rush  of 
breeze  that  shakes  the  branch,  unites  the  drops,  pours  their 
watery  jewels  to  earth  in  a  refreshing  stream.  It  may  be  that 
i-t  only  needs  deeper  inspiration  breathed  from  Heaven,  a 
grander  rush  of  the  all-moving  Spirit,  to  shake  the  Churches 
and  make  kindred  Christians  coalesce  in  blessed  union.  God 
haste  it  in  His  own  glorious  time ! 

So  I  gather  up  in  hasty  sketching  merest  outlines  of  what 
one  branch  of  the  great  Presbyterian  family  has  been  doing. 
Onh^  a  mutilated  fragment ;  a  torso  at  best.  But,  as  the 
Hermes  of  Praxitiles  shows  in  the  smallest  features  its  match- 
less author's  hand,  so  the  divine  artist  testifies  the  genius  of 
His  gracious  providence  in  any  picture  of  the  foreign  field  to- 
day. The  merest  circuit  of  the  battlements  makes  evident 
how  God  has  blessed  the  special  arm  of  service  entrusted  to 
our  beloved  Church  in  Christ's  army  of  occupation.  As  yet 
the  balance  in  our  favor  is  too  partial,  too  selfish;  one  minis- 
ter to  every  seven  hundred  here,  one  to  every  seven  hundred 
thousand  there.  Still,  we  have  only  one,  not  the  largest  nor 
the  least  of  seventy  regiments  that  fight  this  blessed  warfare. 
Sweepthe  field  in  thought  and  you  see  from  Greenland's  ice,  in 
every  zone,  down  through  the  tropics  to  the  Antarctic  circle, 
the  long  line  of  Christian  conquest  circling  the  globe,  pressing 
in  at  every  point  upon  the  surrendering  nations,  with  our 


149 

Master's  name  the  common  rallying  cry,  and  hosannas  of  the 
rescued  the  cheering  music  of  our  march. 

Is  it  success  or  failure  ?  Why,  proportionate  to  men  and 
means,  it  shows  fourfold  results  alDove  those  at  home.  The 
most  striking  triumphs  of  the  cross  are  won  on  mission  fields. 
Enough  to  see  what  God  has  done,  to  be  confident  of  what  He 
will  do.  The  eye  of  the  soul  needs  to  enlarge  its  pupil  to  take 
in  such  floods  of  light  as  facts  are  pouring.  No  statistics  can 
represent  the  size  of  actual  facts.  Who  can  foresee  what  Pente- 
costs  of  converting  power  are  coming,  what  swift  adjustments 
and  changes  of  popular  faith  ?  When  God's  undermining 
process  is  complete,  how  instantaneous  may  be  the  crash  of 
tumbling  idolatries  and  a  clearing  of  the  ruins  for  the  harvests 
of  Emmanuel?  God  moves  the  swiftest.  Let  us  quicken  pace 
to  keep  up  with  Ilim.  He  opens  gateways  faster  than  Chri-s- 
tians  their  purses  or  their  hearts. 

How  loom  up  our  obligations  in  the  retrospect !  Blessed 
beyond  compare,  our  country  could  buy  up  any  nation  of  the 
globe,  with  several  of  the  smaller  ones  thrown  in.  We  stand  the 
richest  Church  of  this  richest  land.  And  though  we  raise  more 
money  now  for  missions  than  any  other  Church  without  State 
support,  Avhat  has  the  efibrt  been  among  our  people  ?  Too 
largely  a  thing  of  shreds  and  patches,  a  fragmentary  effort. 
The  care  of  a  select  few  in  every  church  who  have  it  on  their 
hearts,  considered  a  luxury  of  self-denying  souls,  and  not  a  very 
breath  of  life.  The  Church  needs  Foreis^n  Missions  full  as  much 
as  the  world  needs  them,  lest  it  becomes  a  frozen  pool  instead 
of  a  flowing  spring.  Oh,  for  a  rally  that  would  fling  all  our 
700,000  into  the  work,  holding  the  home-shore  end  and  the 
deep-sea  end  of  the  one  great  Gospel  net  I  Our  land  for  Christ 
and  Christ  for  the  world  as  well !  Brothers,  how  the  object 
looms  before  our  consciences!  Is  it  reflex  influence?  Is  it 
merely  to  take  our  part  with  other  Christian  bodies,  not  to  be 
distanced  or  thought  listless?  Or  is  it  because  swift-passing 
generations  are  dying  in  their  sins,  and  we,  for  their  sake  and 
Christ's,  must  plunge  in  to  rescue  them  ?  We  are  not  un- 
-nerved  or  distracted  in  counsel  by  doubts  whether  the  heathen 
without  Christ  are  actually  lost  at  all ;  whether  their  igno- 
rance is  not  a  sort  of  bliss  tliat  makes  it  folly  to  attempt  their 
wisdom.  We  profoundly  believe  that  noio  is  the  accepted 
time,  the  only  time,  for  them,  for  us.  On  this  rare  day  of 
thankful  joy,  the  Presbyterian  Church  can  bind  her  brow  with 
no  fairer  chaplet  of  renown  than  her  record  in  Foreign  Mis- 
sions.    Yet,  "  Not  unto  us,  but  to  Thy  name  give  glory." 

Will  future  centennials  smile  at  the  earlier  record,  while 
this  great  Church  was  playing  at  missions,  thinking  it  did  its 
duty  to  its  Lord  by  less  than  a  dollar  a  year  from  each  member 


150 

to  equip  its  armies  of  occupation  ?  That  was  tlie  best  we  did, 
till  this  centennial  broke  the  record.  Nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  Christians  strained  to  send  only  one  proxy  to  a 
dying  world.  Shall  we  not  see  a  more  adventurous  faith 
launching  its  gifts  in  volumes  on  this  cause  ?  We  must  put 
dollars  where  we  put  dimes  in  our  siege  guns  before  we  batter 
down  the  walls  of  superstition  and  bring  in  the  kingdom  that 
we  love.  Hold  the  high-water  mark  and  flood  the  globe. 
Hundreds  of  consecrated  young  men  and  women  wait  your 
call.  From  start  to  finish,  make  it  a  work  of  faith,  lest  all 
our  fine  schemes  be  like  an  empty  suit  of  armor,  with  no  hero's 
heart  behind  the  breastplate.  Our  glowing  hopes  are  vision- 
ary follies,  without  the  power  and  wisdom  of  our  God.  Since 
the  Gospel  is  that,  we  can  trust  it  to  cleanse  these  ingrained 
pollutions.  We  may  stand  by  these  sepulchres  and  see  them 
opened.  But  we  await  the  resistless  word,  "Come  forth." 
Lay  hold  by  prayer  on  promise ;  on  cyclonic  energy  that's 
calm  and  sure  as  tLie  gravitation  of  the  skies.  Fight  through 
our  battle- days  in  loyal  service  to  our  King,  and  meet  at  last 
in  glad  congratulations  those  victors  in  the  grand  army  of  the 
redeemed,  who  rally  again  around  their  risen  Lord  in  the  end- 
less jubilee  of  Paradise,  when  the  centennials  of  eternity  have 
become  plentiful  as  sands  upon  the  ocean  shore. 


CALVINISM  AND  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 


By  Hon.  Wm.  C.  P.  Breckinridge,  M.C, 
Lexington,  Ky. 


A/TR.  moderator  and  fathers  and  brethren,  and  you  who 
^^  have  come  from  every  part  of  America  to  this  his- 
toric city  to  unite  in  a  centennial  that  is  devoted  to 
the  glory  of  God  and  to  the  good  of  man,  I  thank  you  more 
than  I  can  tell  for  the  tribute  to  the  memory  of  him  whom  I 
loved  as  I  never  loved  another  man  and  whose  name  was 
identified  with  your  predecessors  as  they  went  in  and  out  be- 
fore the  great  Assemblies  of  the  Church  to  which  he  gave 
his  heart  and  his  life. 

There  is  in  every  man  a  consciousness,  a  recognition,  that 
we  live  under  an  ever-present  law ;  that  we  live  in  a  universe 
of  law ;  that  we  are  formed  without  our  option  in  a  predes- 
tined family  circle  ;  that  by  an  antecedent  power  our  lot  at 
the  very  cradle  was  cast  without  our  option  under  given 
and  foreordained  circumstances ;  that  each  one  of  us  found 
our  peculiar  place  in  a  peculiar  family,  located  in  a  certain 
community,  and  that  he  grew  up  by  circumstances  over  which 
he  had  no  control ;  that  as  he  grew  and  developed  and  learned 
somewhat  of  the  wider  world  around  him,  he  became  more 
and  more  conscious  of  the  dominating  and  irresistible  power 
of  this  ever-present  law ;  that  the  natural  world  was  subject 
to  it,  the  stars  held  in  their  orbits,  the  tiniest  wild  flower  de- 
veloped in  its  solitary  beauty,  all  that  adorned,  all  that  was 
p^^verful  in  nature  was  obedient  thereto. 

Those  silent  and  invisible  forces  which  were  more  and  more 
dominated  by  our  will,  became,  as  we  more  and  more  under- 
stood them,  servants  to  this  law,  and  not  masters  of  the  conse- 
quences which  they  entailed.  And  as  our  researches  came 
upon  higher  levels,  we  found  that  animate  nature  was  likewise 
subject  thereto,  and  to  this  universal  rule  man  was  no  excep- 
tion. Now,  in  accordance  with  this  law,  as  we  looked  into 
history,  we  thought  we  could  trace  that  it,  too,  as  it  gave,  in 
the  development  of  man,  the  progress  of  civilization,  the  out- 
151 


152 

growtli  of  institutions,  the  overturning  of  empires,  the  substi- 
tution therefor  of  nobler  governments ;  that  there  ran  equal 
demonstration  of  the  omnipresent  and  omnipotent  law.  Be- 
fore there  was  any  visible  universe  to  be  obedient  to  this  law, 
before  there  was  any  race  to  develop  under  it,  there  was  a 
perfect  plan  thereof  in  the  divine  intellect,  approved  by  the 
divine  will,  of  all  that  has  been  and  all  that  is  to  be.  All  the 
multifarious  possibilities  foreseen,  all  the  incalculable  contin- 
gencies provided  for,  and,  as  I  understand  it,  that  is  the  gist  of 
Calvinism. 

That  which  we  and  our  fathers  have  seen,  which  we  and 
our  children  are  to  see,  was  not  produced  by  some  blind  chance  ; 
was  not  the  outgrowth  of  some  incidental  or  accidental  power ; 
not  the  shifty  arrangement  at  any  particular  moment  of  some 
uncertain  and  vacillating  power  ;  not  the  unconsequential  se- 
quence of  events ;  but  prior  thereto  all  was  as  well  known,  all 
as  perfectly  provided  for,  all  as  absolutely  seen,  as  it  has  oc- 
curred in  the  development  of  the  centuries  that  have  passed, 
and  as  it  is  to  develop  in  the  centuries  that  are  to  come ; 
and  that  it  was  seen  and  provided  for  by  a  Triune  God  who 
was  Father  of  all,  an  unconditioned  Sovereign,  Law-maker, 
with  absolute  power.  Creator,  with  unconditioned  energy,  and 
this  is  Calvinism, 

As  you  subdivide  this  tremendous  thought,  to  apply  it  to 
the  manifold  conditions  of  human  nature  and  human  history, 
it  has  to  be  formulated  into  creeds  and  dogmas.  As  you  take 
the  prism,  and  hold  it  to  the  pure  white  ray  of  light  that 
you  may  subdivide  that  ray  into  the  colors  of  the  rainbow, 
so  we  take  the  prism  of  human  intellect  and  of  human  nature 
to  subdivide  this  unit,  that  its  diverse  colors  may  illuminate 
and  radiate  every  part  and  condition  of  the  human  heart  and 
soul.  It  is  the  answer  of  the  human  soul  created  in  the 
likeness  of  its  divine  Father,  answering  its  Creator,  "  Thou 
art  Sovereign,  and  Thee  only  we  adore."  This  is  that  Cal- 
vinism which  I  have  come  somewhat  to  talk  about  to-day. 

Now,  when  we  once  obtain  that  thought  in  our  intellect ; 
when  we  once  rise  above  the  mere  struggles  of  mankind,  and 
see  that  all  these  struggles  take  their  predestined  place  to 
accomplish  their  foreordained  purposes,  that  each  in  his  place 
is  born  to  his  work,  to  accomplish  in  his  day  his  part  of  this 
divine  plan,  there  instantly  follows  the  conclusion  that  there 
is  no  other  slavery  than  servitude  to  God.  All  ranks  fade 
into  insignilicance  before  the  mighty  sovereignty  of  God ;  all 
distinctions  become  trivial  and  temporary  before  the  ineffable 
majesty  of  the  eternal  Jehovah ;  all  traditions,  all  trammels, 
all  shackles  that  have  been  used  to  bind  human  intellect  are 
melted  before  the  justice  of  the  great  thought,  that  man  is 


153 

responsible  alone  at  the  bar  of  God  for  what  he  does  in  this 
world,  where  God  has  put  hinfi  to  work  out  his  salvation. 

This  is  true  freedom  ;  this  is  real  liberty ;  but  when  the 
human  intellect  takes  one  step  further ;  when  to  the  pro- 
found and  precious  truth  that  this  man  was  born  in  the  image 
of  God,  and  therefore  born  free ;  that  whatever  we  may  mean 
by  the  sentence,  "Born  in  the  image  of  God"  and  after  His 
likeness,  it  is  a  real  and  profound  truth,  that  it  is  no  flower  of 
rhetoric  and  no  sentimentality,  but  the  most  real  of  all  physi- 
cal truths,  that  man  in  some  sense,  some  real  sense,  is  the  son 
of  God,  wearing  in  his  heart  and  bearing  in  his  soul  and  feel- 
ing, in  his  innermost  nature,  the  lineaments  of  his  divine 
Father  ;  when  to  that  great  thought  is  added  that  other  truth, 
that  the  Triune  God  found  men  in  a  state  of  irretrievable 
ruin  and  misery ;  that  the  prospective  picture  for  this  son  of 
God,  created  in  His  likeness,  was  eternal  damnation,  and  that 
the  aspirations  of  that  soul  for  a  new  and  better  life,  like  dead 
sea  apples,  were  to  turn  to  ashes  on  his  lips  ;  then  there  came 
for  him  deliverance,  and  he  accepted  that  Creator  as  his 
Father  and  his  God — that  man,  free  intellectually,  becomes 
indeed  free  in  soul.  And  that  is  the  highest  fruit  of  Calvin- 
istic  thought.  It  is  that  this  human  soul  owed  its  whole  hope 
of  salvation  and  its  entire  promise  of  eternal  life  to  the  fore- 
ordained purposes  of  God,  growing  out  of  that  love  which  so 
loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only-begotten  Son  that 
man's  soul  might  thus  be  born  anew.  Call  it  "  predestination  " 
or  "  election,"  he  who  feels  that  in  those  remote  and  eternal 
councils  his  name  was  written  by  that  Hand  that  was  to  be 
pierced  in  the  fullness  of  time,  that  from  that  Side  was  to  flow 
the  blood  and  water  which  his  soul,  not  some  ideal  soul,  lost 
in  the  promiscuous  thousands  of  humanity,  not  some  unknown 
unit  counting  for  nauglit  in  the  millions  of  mankind,  but  for 
his  soul  selected  out  of  those  millions,  for  his  life  elected  out 
of  those  countless  thousands,  those  hands  were  to  be  pierced 
and  that  heart  was  to  be  broken,  he  becomes  in  a  sense,  which 
no  language  can  describe,  the  servant  of  God,  the  freeman  of 
^all  else  in  the  world. 

Now,  when  this  truth  is  no  longer  the  dry  formula  of  the 
crisis,  when  it  is  no  longer  the  dogma  of  the  schools,  when  it 
is  no  longer  the  technical  theology  of  the  class-room,  but 
when  it  becomes  the  living  motive  power  in  the  human  heart, 
when  it  becomes  a  part  of  his  own  will,  inwrought  into  his 
purpose,  who  can  doubt  that  there  has  been  put  into  the  hu- 
man problem,  or  into  those  forces  which  are  to  decide  the  de- 
velopment of  all  the  problems  of  the  progress  of  mankind,  a 
force  of  irresistible  power?  We  must  recollect  that  this 
does  not  change  a  man  into  another  man.     He   is  the  same 


154 

individual  into  whose  heart  this  power  is  put  that  he  was  be- 
fore. It  does  not  make  anew  nianout  of  him,  in  the  sense  of 
making  a  different  man.  It  is  the  implanting  of  new  life  and 
new  forces,  the  change  of  motives.  He  is  the  same  man,  in 
the  same  circumstances,  surrounded  by  the  same  duties,  with 
the  same  obligations  upon  him,  but  with  a  different  motive 
power  and  purpose.  But  who  can  deny  that  one  obtaining 
some  faint  conception  of  this  new  truth,  when  it  has  once 
taken  hold  of  the  human  heart  and  the  human  soul,  that 
there  has  been  added  to  the  forces  which  control  mankind  a 
force  of  incalculable  power  and  a  force  that  necessarily .  must 
work  in  but  one  direction. 

Who  can  conceive  a  nation  of  slaves  composed  of  freemen? 
Who  can  realize  as  possible  a  government  that  has  tyrannized 
over  a  people  each  of  whom  is  at  heart  free  ?  I  am  not  now 
talking  of  the  affairs  of  government,  but  of  the  spirit  and  pur- 
pose and  eftect.  Forms  of  government,  anyhow,  are  bat 
temples  in  which  the  spirit  that  is  worshiping  at  the  altar 
marks  its  true  relation  to  mankind  and  its  true  purpose. 

But  Avho  can  conceive  of  a  nation  of  servants  each  of  whom 
feels  that  he  is  called  of  God  to  be  a  freeman  ?  In  proportion  as 
its  citizens  thus  feel,  Avill  that  nation  be  free,  and  in  proportion 
as  this  mighty  thought  rules  the  individual  citizen,  so  will  the 
institutions  of  that  nation  be  imbued  with  that  spirit,  and  it 
will  exhibit  its  power.  Not  at  once,  for  all  changes  in  human 
government  are  gradual.  All  have  a  certain  form  of  slow  de- 
velopment. Sometimes  it  seems  to  be  rapid  because  we  do 
not  know  of  the  data  of  the  historic  problem.  We  are  so 
captivated  by  the  splendid  power  of  some  great  man  whom 
God  gives  to  the  generation,  for  the  time  and  for  the  crisis,  that 
we  overlook  the  antecedent  events  which  made  him  possible, 
and  made  his  work  possible.  It  is  true  that  great  men  do 
make  and  do  decide  great  crises,  but  it  is  only  so  in  a  limited 
sense. 

If  Luther,  Calvin  and  Melancthon  had  never  lived,  still  the 
human  intellect  would  have  emancipated  itself  from  the  effects 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  If  Columbus  had  never  discovered 
this  country,  some  other  Columbus  in  the  fullness  of  time 
would  have  found  this  Western  Continent,  which  God  guarded 
through  the  ignorance  of  mankind  until  he  came  to  play  his 
part  in  the  great  drama  of  human  freedom.  Great  men  are 
great  gifts  of  God.  We  are  deceived  by  the  glamour  of  their 
power ;  our  hearts  are  exalted,  and  we  ascribe  to  them  an  im- 
portance they  do  not  deserve,  for  it  is  by  the  powei'  of  the  di- 
vine leadership,  through  tlie  operation  of  this  interior,  internal 
cause,  that  influences  the  development  of  the  human  heart  and 
the  human  intellect.     All  progress  is  that  way,  leading  to  a 


155 

recognition  more  and  more  of  the  divine  sublimity  and  less  and 
less  of  human  distinction. 

Mr.  Moderator,  I  had  intended  to  say,  in  another  connec- 
tion, that  he  was  a  shallow  thinker  who  did  not  recognize 
that  the  glory  of  political  institutions  is  that  all  men  should 
be,  in  practice  as  in  thought,  free  and  equal.  And  I  found 
that  profound  belief  in  my  heart  of  the  higher  proof  that 
man,  more  and  more,  is  recognizing  that  there  is  no  other 
distinction  worth  knowing  in  human  nature,  save  acknowl- 
edging the  sovereignty  of  God ;  and  as  this  truth  grows  day 
by  day  in  all  human  strongholds,  it  does  two  things :  it 
makes  each  man  recognize  in  himself  the  folly  of  pretending 
to  be  superior  to  the  men  around  him,  and  it  makes  each  man 
tender  in  recognizing  the  equality  of  human  beings  before  the 
God  that  both  of  them  worship. 

As  this  great  truth,  and  the  consequences  growing  out  of  it, 
were  obscured  through  long  centuries  of  domination  by  Church 
and  by  State,  it  seemed  to  have  been  forgotten,  and  God 
revenged  His  truth  upon  man  by  allowing  that  degradation 
which  follows  from  the  practical  forgetfulness  of  Him  and  His 
power;  and  three  centuries  and  more  ago  that  great  revolu- 
tion, which  we  call  the  Eeformation,  was  simply  a  new  recog- 
nition by  certain  persons  of  this  great  truth,  and  the  devotion 
of  their  lives  to  its  utterance  and  to  its  practical  enforce- 
ment. 

There  never  was  a  time  when  every  knee  bowed  to  Baal. 
There  never  has  been  a  day  when  God  was  without  a  witness. 
D"p  and  down  through  the  world  there  have  always  been  souls 
whose  daily  walk  was  w4th  God.  It  would  be  the  most  intense 
argument  for  infidelit}'-  if  it  could  once  be  proven  that  for  one 
single  moment  there  was  no  ladder  that  came  from  the  gate 
of  heaven  to  some  human  soul,  up  and  down  which  no  angel 
of  the  Lord  passed ;  that  there  Avas  one  moment  when  there 
was  no  electric  current  of  ineffable  love  that  connected  the 
human  soul  with  its  divine  Creator.  And  when  Luther  nailed 
his  defiance,  and  when  Calvin  wrote  his  Institutes,  there  were 
human  hearts  scattered  up  and  down  Europe  that  felt  that 
there  had  come  to  them  not  a  new  life,  but  the  utterance  of 
what  those  hearts  had  always  felt,  and  the  expression  of  the 
love  by  which  they  had  always  been  governed. 

So  the  seed  fell  upon  good  soil,  and  when  this  leaven  was 
put  into  the  seething  cauldron  of  that  particular  century,  it 
necessarily  created  additional  fermentation.  It  caused  anew 
that  confusion  of  intellect  and  of  purpose  which  precedes  the 
settlement  of  questions.  It  caused  that  discontent,  that  excit- 
ing condition,  which  is  the  first  step  to  reformation  or  revolu- 
tion.    It  increased   that  restlessness  with  what  was,  which  is 


156 

the  beginning  of  tlie  ascertainment  of  what  is  best  to  be. 
Everywhere  institutions  were  overturned.  It  was  another 
period  when  the  current  turned  the  world  upside  down,  which 
is  the  divine  process  of  making  the  wrong  subordinate  to  the 
right ;  for  the  very  necessity  of  better  growth  is  that  the  mere- 
tricious that  is  on  top  shall  be  turned  upside  down  by  the 
valuable,  which  had  gotten  to  the  bottom. 

That  occurred,  and  it  has  continued  to  occur.  I  will  not, 
before  this  audience,  in  the  time  limited  to  me,  undertake  to 
give  an  historical  corroboration  of  the  truth  I  have  attempted 
to  put  as  the  a  priori  reason  for  that  which  is  established. 
Assume  that  God  is  sovereign.  Grant  that  this  thought  has 
gone  into  the  heart  of  man.  Assume  that  these  men  were 
elected  to  be  his  servants.  Grant  that  they  have  accepted 
that  election.  See  them  as  factors  in  the  battle  of  life.  Watch 
them  as  they  enter  into  it ;  and  who  doubts  upon  which  side 
they  will  array  themselves  ?  You  may  not  see  any  banners, 
with  their  flaunting  inscriptions.  You  need  not  look  at  the 
enemies  they  are  going  to  attack.  You  know  that  the  men 
of  that  army,  with  hearts  aflame,  with  intellects  emancipated 
with  that  thought,  will  fight  but  one  way,  and  that  will  be  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  freedom  of  men. 

But  after  the  battle  is  over  and  the  victory  incomplete  is 
won,  for  the  victories  in  this  warfare  have  not  yet  been  com- 
pleted ;  when  we  camp  as  our  fathers  camped,  but  a  little  bit 
further  into  the  territory  that  our  enemies  held  when  we  began 
the  march  in  the  morning,  all  we  want  is  to  see  who  has  fallen 
in  that  heroic  fight,  who  has  deserted  amid  those  terrific  dan- 
gers, who  has  weakened  from  its  constant  temptations,  so  that 
we  may  close  up  the  ranks  for  to-morrow's  fight,  that  we  may 
estimate  the  strength  that  is  necessary  for  the  next  day's  bat- 
tle, and  take  our  consultations  for  what  is  best  to  do  to  renew 
that  fight. 

And  this  has  been  what  human  historians  have  been  doing 
for  the  last  three  hundred  years.  They  have  been  recounting, 
day  after  day,  what  the  armies  of  freedom  have  won  during 
the  hours  of  the  day.  The  pages  are  confused,  they  are 
stained  with  blood,  for  our  progress  from  those  three  centuries 
can  be  marked  backward  by  scaffold  and  stake,  by  the  heads 
lifted  up  as  traitor  heads  at  the  doors  of  palaces  and  churches 
and  cathedrals  and  temples ;  but  alongside  of  those  blood- 
stained monuments,  which  mark  the  track  of  our  progress, 
can  also  be  found  freer  churches,  freer  institutions,  schools  of 
learning,  cathedrals,  in  which  God,  the  Spirit,  is  worshiped. 
General  Assemblies,  called  in  the  name  of  His  Son,  and  light 
and  progress  everywhere,  until  to-day  the  warfare  is  over 
that  carries  with  it  physical  pain  and  physical  danger. 


157 

I  know  that  sometimes  it  seems  as  if  the  progress  were 
backward,  as  he  who  stands  upon  the  bank  of  some  river 
thinks  its  current  goes  upward,  and  his  heart  may  feel  sad 
that  it  is  reversing  the  order  he  had  hoped  to  have  seen  in  his 
day.  Shallows  or  falls,  or  an  arid  plain  that  runs  down  to 
the  bank  of  what  seems  to  be  a  useless  river,  may  be  to  him 
a  landscape  that  has  naught  in  it  but  pain  and  disappoint- 
ment ;  but  if  he  will  turn  his  steps  away  from  that  river  until 
he  ascends  some  promontory  from  which  he  may  see  its  mean- 
derings,  always  running  toward  the  sea,  sometimes  obstructed 
by  a  mountain  of  prejudice,  which  had  to  be  washed  awa_y  by 
the  blood  of  martyrs  and  the  tears  of  the  broken-hearted,  but 
washed  away  as  if  by  the  power  of  the  divine  hand  ;  some- 
times turning  aside  apparently  uselessly,  until  he  sees  that  be- 
yond its  broad  lagoon  some  magnificent  city,  in  which  human 
beings  live  and  are  happy,  has  grown  upon  its  bank;  some- 
times dammed  up  by  human  greed  until  its  waters  burst  over 
the  dam  and  carry  with  them  industrial  progress  and  indus- 
trial hope,  that  had  been  against  God,  but  is  now  instinct  with 
the  spirit  of  the  divine  Master  and  made  to  make  melodious 
music  in  His  praise  as  it  becomes  the  steward  of  His  charities 
and  His  missions,  but  always  going  to  the  sea. 

And  so  the  river  of  human  history  has  had  the  same  great 
direction.  It  has  always  been  toward  human  freedom — hu- 
man freedom  of  the  soul,  human  freedom  of  the  will,  human 
freedom  of  the  intellect,  until  to-day  we  stand  in  an  attitude 
utterly  unlike  that  in  which  Calvin  stood  when  he  wrote  his 
"  Institutes "  and  when  he  paid  homage  to  the  Church  at 
Geneva. 

I  hear  it  said  that  Calvinism  is  dying  out.  "  We  do  not 
hold,"  it  is  said,  "  to  the  harsh  and  rugged  old  Calvinism  of 
those  hard  days.  '  Our  preachers  do  not  preach  as  Calvin 
preached.  They  do  not  talk  as  Luther  talked."  They  are 
bringing  down,  I  hear  it  constantly  said,  this  doctrine  of  ours, 
this  hard  doctrine  of  ours,  this  cruel  doctrine  of  ours,  to  a 
more  ejalightened  day,  to  a  softer  civilization,  and  to  a  less 
prejudiced  Calvinism  than  our  fathers  preached. 

I  apprehend  it  is  utterly  untrue,  and  that  he  looks  at  but 
the  surface  who  says  so.  We  do  not  arm  ourselves  cap-a-pie 
as  our  fathers  did.  We  do  not  go,  as  John  Knox  did,  before 
the  queen  to  defend  Scottish  liberty.  We  do  not  have  to  die 
in  the  ranks  of  a  physical  army  to  preserve  the  germs  of 
liberty.  We  are  not  called  to  the  stake,  and  therefore  the 
blare  of  the  trumpet  and  the  sound  of  the  drum  and  the 
armor  of  the  soldier  we  have  laid  aside.  Other  enemies  meet 
our  leaders.  Other  weapons  are  to  be  used  for  our  defense. 
God's  sovereignty  was  the  stone  out  of  the  mountain  that  had 


158 

to  be  used  to  destroy  tlie  class  distinction  wliich  had  grown  up 
in  the  centuries  that  were  then  behind  them.  The  individu- 
ality of  every  man,  as  the  direct  son  of  God,  elect  in  the  coun- 
cils of  eternity,  and  therefore  not  to  be  touched  by  mere  man 
power,  without  law,  had  to  be  good  in  those  olden  days. 
Scottish,  Genevan  and  HoUandish  liberty  had  to  be  won  by 
heroic  endeavor  and  ceaseless  courage.  The  life  to  be  laid 
down  was  the  physical  life,  The  hollows  across  which  haman 
progress  had  to  go  were  hollows  that  were  to  be  filled  with 
blood;  and  Calvinists  were  soldiers  of  the  cross  with  a  new 
destiny,  and  had  to  wage  a  new  physical  war.  Commissioned 
by  the  Captain  of  Salvation,  they  carried  into  the  contest  of 
that  day  the  spirit  of  a  certain  physical  warfare. 

To-day  the  sovereignty  of  our  God  is  called  in  question  in 
other  ways.  Science  denies  that  this  universe  of  His,  that 
stretches  out  before  our  eyes,  our  intelligences  and  imagina- 
tions, does  conform  to  the  teachings  of  His  book.  In  the  halls 
of  learning,  in  the  school-house,  in  the  college,  the  enemies  of 
our  God  no  longer  deny  the  equality  of  men,  but  they  give  a 
certain  apotheosis  to  human  nature,  and  thereby  bring  man 
above  his  divine  Master.  No  longer  do  we  war  with  the  im- 
plements of  physical  warfare,  but  we  'are  to  meet  the  world, 
the  flesh  and  the  devil  in  fight  with  these  intellectual  imple- 
ments that  are  to  win  the  fight  for  us. 

And  in  every  Presbyterian  seminary,  thanks  be  to  God,  and 
in  every  Presbyterian  pulpit,  blessed  be  His  divine  name,  the 
weapon  with  which  we  fight  the  warfare  of  to-day,  is  that  God 
is  the  sovereign  Creator  of  the  universe  around  us,  the  Revealer 
of  the  Bible  we  believe,  and  the  Father  of  the  Saviour  who 
died  to  save  mankind. 

It  is  the  same  old  Calvinism  of  the  past.  It  is  that  same 
heaven  that  Stephen  saw  when  he  was  the  first  martyr  ;  that 
Paul,  who  stood  consenting  to  his  murder,  saw  in  his  long  war- 
fare to  make  the  gentile  world  Christian,  and  that  our  fathers  in 
all  ages  have  seen.  It  is  the  same  blessed  truth  that  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  this  precious  centennial  to-day.  Lines  of 
geography  may  divide  us ;  the  traditions  of  the  Bible,  divid- 
ing duty  and  allegiance,  may  put  their  veils  temporarily  be- 
tween us ;  questions  of  diverse  races,  complex  conditions  and 
of  delicate  problems  may  make  us  hesitate  about  the  form  of 
organic  union  ;  but  under  all  of  these  there  is  the  same  love, 
in  substance,  of  the  same  sovereign  God  who  in  the  eternity  of 
the  past  gave  His  Son,  who  died  for  the  elect  of  the  world. 

This  is  the  Calvinism  of  the  present.  It  will  be  modified, 
as  we  go  into  the  future,  in  the  mere  form  of  utterance  or 
formulation  of  its  creed  ;  but  in  its  essential  substance  it  will 
never  more  be  modified,  until  that  Jerusalem   coming  down 


159 

out  of  the  skies  shall  come  and  dwell  among  men ;  when  all 
who  have  gone  before,  when  John  Calvin  will  shake  hands 
with  the  Moderator  of  your  Assembly  ;  when  Melancthon  will 
lie  upon  the  breast  of  some  one  of  these  venerable  fathers 
around  me,  and  when  the  crowns  that  are  put  upon  the  heads 
of  the  elect  will  be  thrown  at  the  feet  of  the  Lamb  of  God, 
recognizing  that  He  only  is  worthy  of  worship  and  adoration. 
I  thank  you  for  your  kind  approval  of  the  truths  I  have 
uttered.     God  put  them  into  my  heart  and  into  your  hearts. 


LAY  EFFORT  AMONG  THE  MASSES. 


By  Hon.  Bennett  H.  Young, 
Louisville,  Ky. 


NEITHER  national  laws  nor  national  songs  are  a  better 
index  of  national  character  than  its  maxims.     Mankind 
needs  and  appreciates  formulas  of  truth  concentrated  in 
a  few  words  or  sentences,  easily  remembered  and  yet  strong 
and  complete  enough  to  comprehend  life's  work,  and  on  which 
the  principles  and  convictions  of  the  soul  may  be  laid. 

The  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divices,  gathered  to  formu- 
late a  system  of  faith  and  doctrine,  with  persecutions  and 
revolutions  behind  the  Church,  and  with  struggles  and  con- 
flicts before,  well  understood  the  necessity  for  this  character 
of  truth.  Summoned  with  the  primal  object  of  demonstrating 
the  concurrence  of  the  doctrines  of  the  English  Church  with 
that  held  by  the  other  reformed  Churches  of  that  day,  moved 
and  controlled  by  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God,  it  lifted  itself 
higher  than  its  source  and  ignored  the  narrow  lines  limiting 
its  being.  It  considered  not  alone  the  English  Church,  or  the 
Scotch  Church,  or  a  conformity,  or  a  subserviency  to  any  pre- 
conceived notions  or  creeds ;  it  went  straight  to  the  Word  of 
God,  and  supplicating  for  divine  guidance,  elaborated  for  man- 
kind a  doctrinal  basis  which,  after  two  and  a  half  centuries, 
under  the  severest  strains  of  religious  and  political  change, 
still  stands  as  a  defense  of  the  orthodox  truth ;  its  banner  is 
borne  by  a  large  proportion  of  the  really  active  Christian  ele- 
ment of  the  world  ;  it  has  been  and  is^a  bulwark  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  and  originates  a  type  of  Christian  people 
always  the  subjects  of  the  deepest  and  strongest  convictions, 
intelligent  and  earnest  in  their  faith,  ready  to  defend  their  doc- 
trines with  fortitude,  zeal,  and,  if  needs  be,  to  sanctify  them 
with  their  blood. 

With  a  sublime  conception  of  man's  destiny,  with  a  full  per- 
ception of  the  dignity  and  grandeur  of  human  life  in  its  rela- 
tions  to   the   Creator,    conscious   of  the    courage   and   faith 
requisite  to  defend  the  truth  in  the  days  of  persecution  and 
160 


161 

trial,  with  the  belief  that  man  should  not  "  live  by  bread  alone, 
but  by  every  word  which  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of 
God,"  they  laid  down  as  the  basis  of  all  human  life  and  human 
conduct,  as  the  first  and  greatest  of  all  human  thoughts,  those 
ennobling  and  inspiring  words,  "  Man's  chief  end  is  to 
glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever."  There  were  no  pre- 
liminaries nor  exceptions;  ambition,  life,  hope,  duty,  all  centred 
here.  Broad  enough  for  all  time,  wide  enough  for  all  eternity ; 
a  platform  upon  which  to  stand  either  on  earth  or  in  heaven. 
This  is  the  cardinal  Presbyterian  maxim  by  which  the  Church 
is  willing  to  be  judged. 

As  these  simple,  lofty,  elevating  words  seize  upon  the  mind 
and  control  the  conduct,  the  best  results  are  necessarily 
obtained ;  there  is  no  trifling  with  names,  godfathers  or  god- 
mothers; dates  of  birth,  parental  origin,  these  are  ignored  and 
the  mind  of  the  learner  with  a  single  sentence  is  inducted  into 
the  highest  duties  and  gravest  responsibilities  connected  with 
life.  The  steadfastness  of  Presbyterians  in  doctrine,  their 
firmness  in  convictions,  their  liberality  and  their  intelligence 
in  all  moral  and  Christian  aftairs,  the  width  and  comprehen- 
siveness of  their  ideas,  and  their  apprehension  of  the  import- 
ance and  the  source  of  life,  are  due  in  large  measure  to  the 
prominence  of  this  mighty  truth,  taught  and  consecrated  by 
the  lips  of  maternal  love;  its  heavenly  force  thus  augmented 
and  exalted  by  earthly  association  and  tenderness;  and  as 
with  unconscious  intelligence  we  repeated  those  words  so 
fraught  with  divine  strength,  we  obtained  a  charter  for  guid- 
ance and  from  them  caught  the  true  conception  of  man's  duty, 
hope  and  destiny.  These  twelve  words  mean  more,  and  have 
accomplished  more  for  the  good  of  mankind  than  any  other 
similar  number  of  words  ever  coined  by  human  brain,  spoken 
by  human  tongue,  or  penned  by  human  hand. 

The  Reformation  introduced  a  new  feature  into  religious 
life,  A  century  did  not  clear  away  the  shadows  which  fol- 
lowed the  darkness  of  the  ages  preceding  the  coming  of  the 
light.  The  intellect  and  the  thought,  and  the  activities  of  the 
Church,  had  been  completely  dominated  by  priestly  rule. 
From  the  individual  standpoint.  Christian  effort  and  work  were 
directed  to  the  personal  salvation  and  acceptance  of  the  be- 
liever. The  chief  object  of  the  professed  Christian  was  to 
please  and  satisfy  the  Church  as  represented  by  the  priest,  and 
the  elevating  influences  of  Christianity  rose  no  higher  than 
obedience  to  the  man  and  the  rules  of  the  Church.  The  love 
of  God  was  thus  narrowed  to  the  extremest  limits  and  the 
impulse  of  Christian  life  was  restrained  to  the  personality  of 
the  subject.  As  this  feeling  was  nursed  and  developed  for 
hundreds  of  years,  all  private  effort  and  conception  of  personal 


162 

responsibility  for  the  spread  of  divine  truth  were  completely 
obliterated  and  man  knew  and  accepted  no  other  principle 
in  his  Christian  state  than  the  mere  hope  or  desire  of  provid- 
ing for  his  own  immunity  from  the  consequences  of  indi- 
vidual sin,  and  thus  religion  was  shorn  of  its  charms  and 
dwaried  into  a  hideous  caricature.  The  idea  of  direct  account- 
ability for  the  dissemination  of  God's  truth  was  absolutely 
blotted  out  from  Christian  consciousness.  Men  bore  to  each 
other  no  comforting  assurances  of  communion  with  God. 
They  interchanged  no  messages  of  love  from  a  heavenly  Father. 
The  expression  of  Christian  experience  was  unknown,  and  the 
joy,  peace  and  hope  of  the  children  of  God  found  no  utterance 
between  man  and  man.  All  these  blessed  and  consecrated 
privileges  of  a  walk  with  God  were  supplanted  by  a  slavish 
fear.  Intolerance  had  destroyed  the  higher  aspirations  of 
spiritual  life,  and  ignorance,  with  its  blinding  surroundings,  had 
shut  out  the  heart  from  the  helpful  associations  with  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Man  heard  only  the  voice  of  God  in  the  appalling 
thunders  of  the  Church's  curse,  and  repose  and  quiet  were 
found  in  anguish  of  penance,  in  the  deception  of  papal  indul- 
gence, or  the  hopelessness  of  unbelief. 

But  religious  life  was  at  last  to  be  awakened  from  the  slum- 
bers, inactivity,  and  barrenness  of  this  dreadful  period.  A  free 
Bible,  a  free  conscience,  and  a  free  judgment  were  to  find  their 
proper  sphere,  and  with  these  came  the  opportunit}^  and  the 
necessity  lor  most  earnest  phases  of  personal  Christian  effort 
and  labor. 

Here  and  there,  a  ray  of  light  had  shone  and  then  died  away. 
From  Wickliffe,  "the  Morning  Star,"  a  bright  beam  had  arisen, 
which  for  a  short  season  lit  up  a  contracted  horizon  with  bril- 
liance and  power.  He  plead  for  the  Word  of  God  to  place  in 
every  man's  hand  and  understood  Avith  that  light  which  light- 
eth  every  man,  the  truth  could  never  die.  The  lay  readers, 
with  the  message  which  had  come  down  from  Heaven  scat- 
tered throughout  the  land,  carried  the  glad  tidings  that  God 
was  near,  that  they  could  approach  to  His  throne  without  out- 
side help,  and  that  by  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  through 
faith  and  not  through  man,  the  forgiveness  of  sins  by  Christ 
was  obtained.  This  set  the  heart  and  tongue  afire,  the  divine 
message  was  before  them,  the  translated  Bible  was  free,  and 
each  could  see  for  themselves  what  God  required  of  the  sinner. 
With  triumphant  peace  and  happiness  which  comes  from  com- 
munion with  God,  and  with  the  inspiring  message  of  salvation 
in  God's  own  Words,  was  told  in  every  place  and  every  home 
the  wondrously  simple  story  of  redemption  through  the  Son 
of  Man,  They  learned  the  new  truth  with  tremendous  glad- 
ness, it  carried  on  its  face  the  remedy  for  sin,  and  met  the  wants 


163 

of  the  stricken  soul.  Man  again  saw  God  face  to  face,  there 
was  no  shadoAv  intervening.  The  gentle,  peaceful  message  gave 
rest  to  the  burdened  heart. 

This  first  Reformation,  founded  so  largely  on  lay  effort,  was 
to  die.  The  time  for  full  deliverance  had  not  come,  but  the 
feeble  spark  had  ignited  a  flame  further  East,  and  Huss  took 
up  the  Gospel  refrain,  contended  for  the  faith,  preached  an 
open  Bible  with  its  precious  truths,  and  gave  up  his  life  in 
defense  of  his  Master's  work.  These  two  reformers  individ- 
ualized the  work  of  promulgating  the  Gospel.  Theirs  had 
been  the  only  practical  work  of  the  kind  for  centuries.  It 
was  now  apparent  that  personal  work  in  the  Christian 
economy  was  impossible  under  the  existing  theological  con- 
ditions, and  these  lights,  bursting  from  long  spiritual  oppres- 
sion and  flaming  high,  though  only  for  a  momentary  period, 
and  then  sinking  back  into  darkness,  yet  left  behind  a  spark 
of  hope,  and  while,  for  the  instant,  intensifying  the  darkness, 
yet  men  had  seen  the  ray,  walked  in  the  light,  and  realized 
that  it  was  good. 

Three-quarters  of  another  century  rolled  away.  Human  souls 
counted  the  years  long,  but  "  He,  in  whose  sight  a  day  is  as  a 
thousand  years,"  watched  the  Church  and  His  enslaved  peo- 
ple. He  would  not  forget  his  promise  "  to  be  with  you  to  the 
end  of  the  world."  In  man,  in  the  Church,  hope  was  fled. 
Light  must  come  from  its  Creator,  who  had  said  in  the  ages  be- 
fore, "  Let  there  be  light  and  there  was  light."  Spiritual  relief 
was  only  possible  from  above. 

In  the  humble  home  of  the  German  miner,  hidden  away 
in  the  recesses  of  the  forest,  at  the  despised  fireside,  the  infant 
voice  of  Martin  Luther  breaks  the  spell  of  darkness  and  de- 
spair. Providence  was  watching  the  chosen  instrument  who 
should  introduce  the  dawn  of  a  reorganized  spiritual  life ;  was 
preparing  the  man  who  should  expound  a  word  and  doctrine 
which  should  change  the  destinies  of  governments  and  races, 
under  whose  labors  the  old  should  pass  away  and  the  new  be 
brought  in  ;  from  the  depths  of  whose  soul  a  new  light  would 
spring ;  who  would  catch  from  the  Holy  Spirit  the  living  way; 
who  would  learn  from  the  divine  pages  the  same  old  story  that : 
Life  was  by  faith  and  "  not  by  works,"  and  that  sinners  were 
justified  in  what  they  believed  and  not  by  what  they  did. 

God  sent  flashing  into  the  soul  of  Martin  Luther  these 
heavenly  words,  "  The  just  shall  live  by  his  faith."  This  was 
no  new  doctrine.  Two  thousand  years  before,  the  prophet  of 
God  stood  and  watched  what  he  should  be  commanded  to 
speak,  and  he  was  told  this  same  thing,  and  to  "  write  and 
make  it  plain  upon  tables,  that  he  may  run  that  readeth  it." 
(Hab.  ii,  4.)     The  mysteries,  forms  and  shams  were  now  torn 


164 

away  and  forever  destroyed.  Tlie  time  had  come  wlien  men 
uuderstood  tliey  need  not  look  to  a  middle  man ;  that  they  re- 
quired no  priest,  no  pope  to  declare  God's  will ;  that  God 
had  done  that  for  himself,  and  that  access  to  Him  was  open  to 
every  soul.  That  this  glorious  truth  had  long  been  hidden 
and  obscured,  only  brought  out  its  beauty,  sublimity  and  com- 
fort the  more  powerfully.  Man  rejoiced  in  his  escape  from 
thralldom,  salvation  was  now  understood  as  a  question  between 
each  person  and  God:  no  iatervention  or  interference  was  to 
be  tolerated  or  allowed. 

Men,  then,  each  thought  for  himself;  the  press  multiplied 
the  sacred  Word ;  every  one  could  hear  and  receive  the  divine 
message,  and  not  this  alone,  but  could  tell  it  to  others.  Re- 
joicing himself  in  the  light,  he  was  commanded  to  declare  to 
every  creature  the  will  of  God,  and  that  will  was,  "  That  ye 
believe  upon  Him  whom  He  hath  sent." 

Millions  wondered  how  the  human  soul  and  mind  could  so 
long  be  darkened  with  such  brightness  streaming  from  the 
Word  of  God.  With  difficulty  they  realized  how  near  they 
had  stood  to  the  light,  and  yet  how  intense  the  darkness  in 
which  they  had  walked.  With  joy  unspeakable,  they  drank 
from  the  pure  fountain ;  thankfully,  they  took  up  the  glad 
song.  They  now  comprehended  their  privilege  and  duty  to 
proclaim  God's  message  to  every  creature,  and  caught  the  glo- 
rious inspiration  of  those  words,  transmitted  to  earth  by  a  glo- 
rified Saviour,  sixty  years  after  his  ascension,  "And  him 
that  heareth,  let  him  say  come." 

The  opportunity  of  every  being  to  speak  for  Christ  was 
thus  again  established.  The  layman  was  restored  to  his  true 
relation  to  the  Gospel.  The  fire  now  kindled  could  never  be 
quenched,  the  hour  of  redemption  was  at  hand,  the  seal  was  bro- 
ken, the  message  was  open.  It  was  not  now  required  to  buy  ab-' 
solution  ;  salvation  was  free — free  through  Christ.  The  dust  of 
centuries,  with  a  few  words,  as  read  by  the  guidance  of  the 
Spirit,  was  brushed  away,  the  revelation  was  again  revealed, 
and  it  was  as  beauteous,  as  glorious  and  as  refulgent  as  when, 
fifteen  hundred  years  before,  the  Pentecostal  blessing  had  been 
poured  out,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  with  its  vitalizing  presence, 
had  come  to  dwell  in  the  heart  of  every  true  believer. 

The  true  Christian  elements  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel 
were  at  hand.  The  hearts  of  the  people  had  experienced  the 
glowing  touch  of  the  Spirit;  their  souls  were  afire  with  love 
to  God  and  love  to  man,  and,  as  the  world  is  always  readier  to 
hear  than  the  Church  is  to  speak,  it  was  only  necessary  to  send 
them  forth.  It  appeared  as  if  the  scenes  of  the  earlier  days 
of  the  Church  were  to  be  restored  when  the  Master  allowed 


165 

the  hand  of  the  persecutor  to  prevail,  as  men  and  women 
were  driven  forth  to  every  part  of  the  known  world,  and, 
wherever  the  followers  of  Jesus  came,  they  told  what  they  had 
seen,  heard  and  felt,  and  the  Word  grew  mightily,  and  thus  the 
Head  of  the  Church  inaugurated  the  greatest  lay  eflbrt  Chris- 
tianity has  ever  known,  and  in  every  part  of  the  earth  was 
the  power  of  Christian  zeal  and  Christian  testimony  under- 
stood and  rendered  so  efiective  that,  in  less  than  forty  years 
after  His  death,  the  Gospel  had  gone  into  every  land. 

It  will  be  thus  seen  that  successful  lay  effort  is  only  possi- 
ble under  the  energizing  and  aggressive  ideas  of  the  Protestant 
Churches ;  that  a  free  Bible  goes  with  a  free  Gospel ;  that  much 
of  the  true  efl&cacy  of  Christian  life  is  dependent  upon  the 
part  of  Church  labor  assigned  to  the  private  members  in  the 
work  of  the  Church.  The  spread  of  Christianity  in  its  in- 
fancy would  have  been  impossible  under  any  system  which 
did  not  recognize  and  use  the  layman  as  an  essential  factor  in 
the  dissemination  of  truth  and  in  fostering  and  maintaining 
the  spiritual  forces  of  the  Churches, 

Religious  ideas  change  more  slowly  than  either  political  or 
social  ones,  and  the  lapse  of  nearly  three  centuries  has  not  en- 
tirely removed  the  feeling  that  the  minister  is  in  some  way 
different  in  spiritual  life  from  the  layman,  and  consequently 
there  is,  among  many  people,  a  feeling  of  both  reserve  and  re- 
luctance in  approaching  him  with  the  less  important  spiritual 
difficulties  and  experiences.  The  warm  sympathy,  the  kindly 
counsel,  the  friendly  encouragement,  the  gentle  admonition, 
come  with  peculiar  power  and  effect  from  one  who  holds  no 
teaching  office  in  the  Church. 

Not  long  since,  it  was  my  privilege  to  observe  a  remarkable 
illustration  of  the  influence  of  layman  upon  layman  in  the 
discharge  of  religious  duty. 

In  the  extreme  southern  portion  of  Florida,  in  a  town  with- 
out a  church  building  or  regular  Gospel  ministration,  a  Pres- 
byterian divine  on  the  Sabbath  had  an  appointment  for  ser- 
vice. A  few  strangers  from  the  hotel  attended  preaching. 
Some  of  those  earnest  in  Church  work  at  home,  took  an  active 
part  in  the  singing,  and,  at  the  close  of  the  sermon,  the  minis- 
ter asked  some  one  present,  all  unknown  to  him  by  name,  but 
whom  he  said  were  apparently  Chi-istians,  to  lead  in  prayer. 
One  of  the  party  being  in  spirit  on  the  Lord's  day,  uttered  an 
earnest  and  in  some  respects  a  very  touching  petition.  No 
mention  was  made  of  any  unusual  impression  at  the  time,  but, 
on  the  day  following,  the  stranger,  since  known  to  be  one  of 
the  largest  manufacturers  in  America,  approached  the  gentle- 
man who  had  offered  the  prayer,  then  together  on  the  steamer 


166 

far  out  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  said  to  liim,  "  I  heard  you 
pray  yesterday  ;  you  are  evidently  a  man  of  culture  and  ability. 
My  wife  is  a  Christian  woman  ;  she  has  long  earnestly  desired  my 
salvation.  I  have  heretofore  doubted  the  reality  of  religion. 
Your  prayer  greatly  affected  me  ;  there  must  be  a  great  and 
real  power  in  religion  else  it  would  not  have  made  you  talk 
and  feel  as  you  did.  The  whole  matter  has  touched  me  deeply. 
I  have  put  my  faith  in  Christ,  He  has  given  peace  and  comfort 
to  my  soul.  I  am  going  home  to  live  a  Christian  life,  and  my 
dear  wife  will  be  the  happiest  woman  in  the  world  to-morrow 
when  I  tell  her  what  a  change  has  come  over  me.  Stranger, 
I  do  not  know  your  name,  but  we  will  in  my  home  always  love 
and  bless  you  for  the  prayer  you  made  yesterday." 

The  layman  approaches  his  fellow-man  from  a  common 
plane.  There  are  no  barriers  that  need  to  be  broken  down, 
there  are  no  prejudices  to  be  removed;  social  caste  vanishes 
with  the  presence,  the  influence  of  Christian  love.  The  Sa- 
viour was  never  required  to  tell  the  suffering  and  distressed 
that  he  cared  for  them.  They  knew  that  more  readily  by 
what  He  did  than  they  could  have  done  by  any  of  His  words, 
and  they  came  confidently  and  earnestly  to  have  their  sorrows 
soothed  and  their  ills  removed.  As  soul  looks  into  soul,  as  the 
love  of  Christ  is  reflected  from  heart  to  heart,  the  sweetness 
of  its  power  is  demonstrated  and  the  world  draws  from  the  acts 
of  His  followers,  noble  conceptions  of  the  Saviour's  mission 
and  purpose. 

Society  is  prone  to  regard  the  ministerial  profession  with  a 
sense  of  awe.  Their  distinctive  dress,  peculiarity  of  style, 
method  of  thought  and  dignity  of  purpose,  combined  with  the 
singularity  of  religious  emotion,  as  well  as  the  Church's  his- 
tory, cultivate  this  sentiment.  It  is  neither  unreasonable  nor 
improper.  The  general  estimation  of  the  piety  and  consecra- 
tion of  the  clergy  adds  greatly  to  their  usefulness  and  success, 
but  in  some  respects  it  renders  the  masses  more  reserved  and 
hesitant  in  approaching  them  for  comfort  and  advice,  and  thus 
opens  wide  the  way  for  the  work  of  the  layman.  Excellence 
of  every  man  in  his  profession  is  expected  and  required  by 
public  sentiment,  and  that  those  whose  minds  and  whose  lives 
are  absorbed  in  the  service  of  God  should  attain  greater  per- 
fection and  enjoy  fuller  benefits  of  divine  blessings,  is  not  only 
right  but  it  is  just.  God  forbid  that  I  should  in  any  way,  by 
magnifying  the  office  and  duty  of  laymen,  depreciate  or  de- 
tract from  the  work  and  mission  of  the  ministry.  Human  his- 
tory offers  for  man's  consideration  no  nobler  object  lesson  than 
the  devotion  and  self-denial  of  clergymen.  Ignoring  all  else 
but  the  call  of  God,  surrendering  all  financial  calculations  and 
considerations  for   self  and   family,  entering  upon  a  calling 


167 

wherein  there  are  no  perquisites,  where  support  must  come 
from  the  voluntary  contributions  of  others,  toiling  and  strug- 
gling for  a  reward  which  in  large  measure  must  be  found  be- 
yond this  life,  and  which  here  consists  almost  altogether  in  con- 
sciousness of  helpfulness  and  happiness  to  others;  walking  by 
faith  and  not  by  sight,  and  looking  to  an  unseen  power  for  sup- 
port and  maintenance ;  despising  all  earthly  accumulations  of 
fortune,  and  with  no  reasonable  or  indeed  possible  hope  for 
anything  but  a  bare  subsistence  in  this  world ;  carrying  on  their 
souls  the  tremendous  responsibilities  of  men's  salvation ;  stand- 
ing as  a  negotiator  between  God  and  man  ;  this  unselfish,  self- 
denying,  God-serving  profession  stands  forth  as  one  of  the 
most  exalted  tributes  to  human  glory  and  greatness  this  world 
can  produce.  Palsied  be  the  tongue  that  should  speak,  and 
withered  the  hand  that  should  write  aught  against  men  who 
hold  this  exalted,  honorable  and  illustrious  relation  to  man- 
kind. The  true  minister  stands,  par  excellence^  the  best  of  the 
earth, 

"  He  was  humble,  kind,  forgiving,  meek, 
Easy  to  be  entreated,  gracious,  mild. 
And  with  all  patience  and  affection  taught, 
Rebuked,  persuaded,  solaced,  couiisel'd,  warn'd. 
In  fervent  style  and  manner.    All 
Saw  in  his  face  contentment,  in  his  life 
The  path  to  glory  and  perpetual  joy. 

A  skillful  workman  he 
In  God's  great  moral  vineyard.    What  to  prune. 
With  cautious  hand  he  knew  M'hat  to  uproot : 
What  were  weeds  and  what  celestial  plants 
Which  had  unfading  vigor  in  them  knew, 
Nor  knew  alone  but  watched  tiiem  night  and  day. 
And  reared  and  nourished  them  'till  fit  to  be 
Transplanted  to  the  Paradise  above." 

But  great  as  the  mission  of  the  ministry,  wide  as  their  field 
of  usefulness,  it  need  not  and  cannot  impinge  upon  the  work 
of  the  layman.  There  are  no  restraints  between  man  and  man 
in  religion.  The  Gospel,  as  constituted  by  God,  in  this  place 
makes  us  all  "  one  in  Christ."  The  heart  of  his  fellow-man 
answers  promptly  to  sympathy,  gives  pressure  for  pressure  to 
his  hand,  and  responsive  words  meet  the  call  to  listen  to  the 
divine  message. 

The  constitution  of  society,  the  rules  of  human  action,  the 
law  of  the  emotions,  place  the  layman  in  the  most  favorable 
of  all  conditions  and  positions  to  do  God's  work.  It  is  only 
necessary  to  go  forth,  hearts  are  ready  to  receive  the  message ; 
suffering  abides  on  every  hand,  poverty's  touch  is  everywhere 
felt,  sorrow  stalks  about  every  life,  the  fallen  lie  in  each  path ; 
the  harvest  is  plenteous,  only  the  laborers  are  few. 


168 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten,  in  this  connection,  that  the  Scrip- 
tures and  the  world  place  such  strong  reliance  upon  testimony. 
One  of  the  noblest  missions  of  Christian  men  and  women  on 
earth  is,  by  a  godly  and  consistent  life,  to  testify  to  the  influ- 
ence and  power  of  the  grace  of  God  in  the  heart.  The  great 
Apostle  said,  "  Ye  are  our  epistle  written  in  our  hearts  and 
known  and  read  of  all  men,"  and  the  completest  and  grandest 
testimony  of  earth  to  religion,  outside  of  martyrdom,  is  a 
human  life  controlled,  directed  and  fashioned  by  the  precepts 
of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  scanned  oftener,  read  more  attentively, 
and  produces  a  profounder  impression  than  any  other  theo- 
logical treatise.  It  is  more  eloquent  than  human  tongue, 
more  beautiful  than  any  rhetoric  and  more  impressive  than 
any  painting.  Preaching  is  not  confined  to  the  churches ; 
these  and  their  ordinances  are  the  foundation  stone  upon  which 
the  Gospel  fabric  rests,  but  real,  sincere,  earnest,  devoted  Chris- 
tian lives  teach  millions  who  will  listen  to  these  lessons  will- 
ingly and  yet  turn  their  steps  and  hearts  away  from  the  other 
messages  of  God,  and  the  most  effective  and  exhaustive  presen- 
tation of  Christ  and  Him  crucified  among  His  professed  fol- 
lowers is  consistency  in  His  commands,  and  the  exemplifica- 
tion of  His  teaching  in  daily  conduct. 

The  limited  space  assigned  speakers  in  this  place  forbids  any 
extended  discussion  of  the  best  plans  for  inciting  and  increasing 
lay  efibrt.  In  this  day  and  generation  it  is  practically  impos- 
sible under  the  Presbyterian  system  to  secure  a  ministry  strong 
enough  numerically  to  carry  on  the  Church's  work  as  required 
by  the  exigencies  of  the  times,  or  at  all  commensurate  with  its 
responsibility  for  the  work  of  the  Lord  among  the  American 
people.  The  truest  and  best  incentive  to  the  fulfillment  of  the 
mission  of  the  laymen  is  a  heart  aglow  with  the  love  of  Christ. 
All  successful  Church  work  is  impossible  without  this.  To 
carry  on  the  work  of  Christ,  men  must  love  Christ  and  love 
Him  as  He  required,  "  With  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy 
soul  and  with  all  thy  strength  and  with  all  thy  mind  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself"  (Luke  x,  27),  and  to  keep  this  sense  of 
obligation  before  professed  Christians  and  to  impress  its  im- 
portance upon  their  hearts  is  the  surest  and  most  effective 
means  for  the  spread  of  Gospel  truth. 

In  the  past  the  Presbyterian  layman  has  not  met  all  the 
requirements  of  his  exalted  opportunities.  The  best  trained 
in  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  nurtured  upon  the  splen- 
didly told  truths  of  the  Shorter  Catechism,  with  its  teachings 
burned  into  his  soul  by  the  holy  association  of  maternal  so- 
licitude and  tenderness,  and  raised  under  a  system  which  re- 
quires intelligence  in  the  Scriptures,  and  the  core  of  which  is 
the  diffusion  of  Biblical  and  intellectual  knowledge,  blessed 


169 

with  the  home  teaching  and  influences  which  have  given  the 
denomination  a  power  and  control  which  outruns  numbers, 
the  work  of  the  Church  at  large  has  not  been  equal  to  the 
reasonable  and  natural  demands  of  its  circumstances,  and  it  is 
commonly  urged  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  more  re- 
spectable than  active.  Lay  effort  is  possible  and  will  be 
profitable  to  the  Church  in  so  many  directions  that  here  it 
will  be  unnecessary  to  point  out  the  enormous  opportunities 
for  utilizing  this  tremendous  army  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
What  a  superb  host  of  Christian  soldiers  the  Presbyterian  or- 
ganizations of  America  can  send  forth  on  the  conquering  mis- 
sions of  the  Son  of  Man  !  An  army  of  more  than  four  mil- 
lions of  defenders  could  be  gathered  from  these  Presbyterian 
tribes.  Men  and  women  who  have  enlisted  for  the  Messiah, 
who  name  His  name  and  owe  their  allegiance  to  His  cause. 
They  need  only  to  feel  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to 
have  the  fire  burn  in  their  hearts,  to  make  all  things  possible 
in  the  salvation  of.  the  race.  If  only  the  hand  of  persecution 
should  fall,  if  God  should  let  their  enemies  prevail  and  they 
be  driven  forth  as  His  people  of  olden  time  and  scattered 
throughout  the  world,  if  all  these  be  once  drawn  close  to  the 
Head  of  the  Church  and  compelled  by  chastisements  to  ex- 
ercise the  highest  and  profoundest  types  of  faith,  with  these 
millions  declaring  His  love,  teaching  His  truths  and  saying, 
"  Come,"  the  world  would  be  converted  ere  the  close  of  the 
present  century. 

The  Gospel  of  Christ  is  peculiarly  a  missionary  Gospel.  Its 
laws  and  requirements  are  the  same  for  every  clime  and  every 
race.  There  are  neither  qualifications  or  distinctions  in  meth- 
ods or  application.  The  call  now  is  the  same  as  "in  the  last 
day,  that  great  day  of  the  feast,  Jesus  stood  and  cried,  saying, 
"  If  any  man  thirst  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink."  (John 
viii,  37.)  Or  when  nearer  the  shadows  of  the  cross  He  said: 
"  I  am  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life."    (John  xiv,  6.) 

The  soul  that  seeks  rest  from  sin,  whether  in  the  snowy 
abodes  of  the  Himalayas,  whether  amid  the  sands  of  the 
desert,  from  the  fastnesses  made  sacred  by  the  blood  of  the 
Waldensians,  or  among  the  tenantless  plains  of  Patagonia, 
be  it  savage  or  savant,  finds  one,  and  only  one  way,  simple, 
clear,  complete,  free.  This  simplifies  the  work  and  duty  of 
Christian  men.  There  can  be  no  mistake  in  means.  There 
is  no  diversity  of  plans.  There's  one  word,  and  that  word  is 
Christ,  and  every  tongue  can  tell  and  every  heart  can  receive 
this  blessed  truth.  History  contains  no  account  of  any  human 
being  who  could  not  understand  and  receive  the  Gospel.  The 
world  is  full  of  those  who  are  unwilling,  but  among  its  innu- 
merable millions  there  never  was   one  who  was  unable   to 


170 

comprehend  the  way  of  salvation  through  the  risen  Lord. 
This  wonderful  truth  intensifies  and  magnifies  the  obligation 
of  every  creature  to  obey  the  command  :  "  Go  work  to-day  in 
my  vineyard."     (Matt,  xxi,  28.) 

The  ministry  must  be  the  chief  instruments  to  arouse  and 
encourage  the  laymen  to  the  proper  discharge  of  these  duties. 
Engrossed  with  business  cares,  this  enormous  power  lies  dor- 
mant until  quickened  by  the  Spirit  of  God  and  directed  by 
its  true  spiritual  leaders.  Every  possible  talent  is  at  hand, 
hundreds  of  avenues  open,  and  under  God's  help  the  work 
can  be  done.  The  future  of  the  evangelistic  missionary  work 
of  Presbyterianism  is  largely  with  the  members  of  the  con- 
gregations. The  cause  of  Christ  requires  means,  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  race  demand  hospitals,  the  intelligence  of  the 
people  calls  for  colleges  and  universities,  and  the  high  stand- 
ard of  Christian  teaching  and  the  prevalence  of  human  dis- 
tress claims  homes  for  the  aged  and  poor.  Presbyterians  of 
the  past  have  led  the  very  vanguards  of  charity  and  liberality. 
May  the  fature  find  them  as  forceful  and  earnest. 

The  last  decade  has  forever  silenced  the  oft-repeated  cal- 
umny, that  Presbyterianism  is  not  suited  to  the  masses  of 
mankind,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  an  active,  aggressive  Chris- 
tian factor.  A  thousand  facts  repel  the  unworthy  charge, 
and  the  immediate  past  of  Presbyterian  development  in  this 
country  has  demonstrated  that  our  faith  can  grow  wherever 
sin  abounds,  and  men  and  women  need  the  help  and  grace  of 
a  Saviour. 

With  a  future  before  America  which  thrills  every  patriotic 
heart  with  emotions  of  delight,  with  a  land  whose  laws  are 
the  admiration  of  mankind,  producing  annually  one-third  of 
the  increase  in  wealth  of  the  known  v/orld,  conquering  a  con- 
tinent and  peopling  it  in  a  century  with  the  most  intelligent 
and  aggressive  race  of  modern  times  and  creating  the  greatest 
government  of  the  world  in  one-tenth  the  space  it  requires 
other  nations  to  build  a  first-class  city,  with  the  most  tremen- 
dous national  possibilities,  well  may  we  ask  ourselves  what  is 
to  be  its  future  relations  to  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

We  answer  that  America,  the  home  of  religious  freedom, 
the  asylum  of  those  who  have  in  any  land  felt  the  touch  of 
civil  or  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  shall  be  the  land  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that  the  Presbyterian  Church,  with  its  mil- 
lions of  laymen,  intelligent,  liberal,  consecrated  to  the  service 
of  the  Saviour,  will  lead  the  hosts  of  the  King  of  kings,  and 
in  His  name  carry  on  the  struggle  until  our  country  shall  be 
as  renowned  for  its  Christianity  as  it  is  illustrious  for  its  pro- 
gress and  liberty.     Without  laymen  and  lay  efibrt,  this  great 


171 

victory   cannot  be  won.     With  them,  consecrated  to  God's 
work,  it  is  as  sure  as  His  throne. 

"  Ai'ouse  thee,  Soul !    It  is  no  liuman  call ; 
God's  Church  is  leagur'd,  man  the  wall ; 
Haste  where  the  red  cross  banners  wave  ou  high, 
Signal  of  honored  death  or  victory  I" 

If    the    great    body   of   believers  be  true  and  faithful  to 
Christ, 

"  He  shall  come  down  like  showers 

Upon  tlie  fruitful  earth, 
And  Love  and  Joy,  like  flowers, 

Spring  in  his  path  to  birth. 
Before  liim,  on  tlie  mountains, 

Shall  Peace  the  herald  go. 
And  righteousness  in  fountains, 

From  hill  to  valley  flow.'' 


THE     ADAPTATION     OF     PRESBYTE- 
RIANISM  TO  THE   AlASSES. 


By  Hon.  J.  Randolph  Tucker, 

Lexington,    V.i. 


RELIGION"  is  the  bond  which  unites  man  to  God.  It  is, 
though  it  be  silent,  the  most  potent  influence  in  form- 
ing his  moral  character  ;  and  therefore  in  its  moral 
effects  upon  the  masses  of  men  in  their  social  and  political  re- 
lations. The  deeper  his  insight  into  its  true  nature,  and  the 
stronger  its  grasp  upon  his  mind  and  soul,  the  more  complete 
will  be  the  force  of  religion  upon  the  man  and  the  mass,  in 
raising  both  to  the  high  plane  of  a  true,  pure  and  strong  man- 
hood. 

As  atheism  is  the  negative  of  all  religion,  so  the  Being  of 
God  is  the  primal  fact  in  every  system  of  religion ;  and  faith 
in  God  is  the  conservatism  of  all  the  religious  forces  operating 
on  human  nature.  Without  a  God  there  can  be  no  religion  ; 
and  without  faith  in  God,  religion  is  without  forceful  influence 
on  man. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  influence  of  religion  on  man  will  be 
proportioned  to  his  faith,  and  the  force  of  his  faith  will  be  in 
proportion  to  the  majesty  of  the  God,  revealed  to  his  con- 
sciousness as  the  object  of  his  Avorship.  In  fact,  man  tends  to 
assimilate  himself  to  the  God  to  whom  he  acknowledges  sub- 
jection ;  and  thus  the  character  of  the  man  in  the  individual 
and  in  the  mass  may  be  measurably  estimated  by  his  subjec- 
tive conception  of  the  Deity  he  adores.  Man  will  practice 
the  vices  his  Deity  sanctions  or  condones,  but  will  strive  to 
purify  and  perfect  himself  as  his  God  is  pure  and  perfect. 

These  considerations  explain  the  marvelous  influence  of  the 
religion  of  Christ,  inclusive  of  that  of  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
upon  human  civilization.  Paganism  pulled  Deity  down  to  the 
low  plane  of  a  debased  moral  code — Christianity  lifts  humanity 
up  to  the  God-man  as  the  perfect  example  of  a  noble  and 
spotless  manhood. 
172 


173 

The  Decalogue  of  Moses  and  the  other  sacred  writings  were 
the  heritage  of  the  world,  to  which  Christ's  life  and  teachings 
were  added  to  complete  the  revelatioa  of  the  one  living  and 
true  God  for  the  worship  of  men.  Christ  left  to  His  apostles, 
under  the  promised  inspiration  of  the  Comforter,  the  duty  of 
formulating  for  the  nations  the  dogmatic  statements  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine.  In  these,  there  is  no  conflict,  but  entire  accord 
with  His  own  teachings — and  only  a  more  systematic  presenta- 
tion of  them  for  adaptation  to  human  apprehension. 

Among  those  who  fulfilled  this  great  task  for  the  Christian 
religion,  the  Apostle  Paul  was  pre-eminent.  His  wonderful 
natural  gifts,  his  extensive  experience  as  a  pupil  of  Gamaliel 
in  all  Jewish  writings,  and  his  liberal  attainments  in  the  lite- 
rature of  other  nations,  were  combined,  with  the  inspiration 
he  received  more  abundantly  than  all  others  in  his  secluded 
life  in  Arabia  before  beginning  his  apostolic  work,  to  fit  him 
to  be  the  chief  apostle  to  the  gentile  world  as  well  as  to  his 
own  nation. 

Paul's  mental  courage  was  sublime.  The  God  of  his  fathers, 
revealed  to  him  in  the  Jewish  books  from  Moses  to  Malachi, 
during  fifteen -centuries,  spoke  to  him  through  the  teachings  of 
the  Crucified  One  in  clear  and  distinct  utterance.  He  knew 
he  had  seen  and  heard  Him  on  the  road  to  Damascus. 
Besides,  he  had  received  fuller  revelations,  which  filled  his 
soul  with  unutterable  realities  as  to  the  attributes  of  the 
Divine  Being.  That  which  may  be  known  of  the  invisible 
God  from  the  things  that  are  made,  even  His  eternal  power 
and  Godhead,  was  all  more  than  confirmed  by  the  personal 
revelations  to  himself.  Eeason  and  personal  consciousness, 
therefore,  confronted  him  with  this  postulate,  as  the  basis  of 
all  religious  thought — the  awful  and  majestic  sovereignty  of 
the  infinite  and  eternal  and  unchangeable  God. 

Paul's  mental  courage  did  not  shrink  from  treading  with 
humble  but  firm  step  upon  the  brink  of  the  profound  abyss  of 
God's  everlasting  purposes,  into  which  he  looked  with  rever- 
ential devotion,  only  to  learn  they  could  not  be  fathomed  by 
human  reason.  His  reason  told  liim  it  was  rational  to  believe 
what  was  revealed  as  a  fact,  though  he  could  not  find  it  out 
unto  perfection.  The  finite  must  take  on  faith,  what  the 
reason  cannot  discern  of  the  thoughts  and  decrees  of  the  infi- 
nite. This  is,  indeed,  the  highest  achievement  of  right 
reason. 

All  the  problems  involved  in  the  divine  sovereignty  and  its 
consistency  with  man's  freedom  and  man's  responsibility  he 
pondered  with  analytic  insight,  only  to  conclude  they  were 
insoluble,  because  inscrutable  by  human  reason.  The  prem- 
ises in  the  divine  syllogism  were  hidden  to  human  view,  but 


174 

the  divine  conclusion  as  an  indisputable  fact  he  accepted  be- 
cause reason  and  revelation  established  it. 

The  Pauline  postulate  of  all  Christian  theology  was  this 
profound  mystery  of  the  unlinnited  and  unconditioned  sover- 
eignty of  the  one  only  living  and  true  God,  the  original,  the 
only  and  the  uncaused  cause  of  all  created  things.  The  how 
and  the  why  of  this  great  fact  were  beyond  human  reason 
and  were  denied  to  human  inquisition.  No  human  plummet 
can  sound  its  depths,  no  human  thought  can  reach  its  heights, 
no  human  imagination  can  explore  its  boundless  expanse,  no 
human  science  can  analyze  its  primordial  principles  or  measure 
the  infinite  economy  by  the  laws  of  a  finite  philosophy. 

To  the  question,  Why  are  these  things  hid  from  the  wise  and 
prudent  and  revealed  unto  babes?  the  answer  comes  in  the 
gentle  tones  of  the  divine  Teacher,  "  Even  so,  Father ;  for  so 
it  seemed  good  in  Thy  sight."  If  audacious  skepticism  de- 
mands explanation,  the  questioner  is  met  by  a  sterner  de- 
mand :  "  Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
earth?"  And  when  the  bold  objector  challenges  God's  jus- 
tice, Paul  replies  with  a  counter-question,  which  silences  the 
cavils  of  the  disputant:  "  Nay,  but  oh,  man,  who  art  thou 
that  repliest  against  God  ?  Shall  the  thing  formed  say  to  Him 
that  formed  it.  Why  hast  thou  made  me  thus?  " 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  Pauline  postulate  is 
merely  dogmatic.  It  is  the  natural  choice  between  two  alter- 
natives of  a  dilemma.  Reason  requires  belief  in  a  God  of  un- 
conditioned sovereignty  or  iu'  none  at  all.  The  dilemma  is,  such 
a  God  or  blank  atheism. 

But  reason  and  revelation  concur  in  declaring  there  is  a 
God,  and  if  so,  on  what  can  He  be  conditioned,  or  by  what 
limited  ?  Clearly  upon  and  by  nothing  pre-existent  to,  or  co- 
existent with  Him.  For,  if  on  something  pre-existent,  then 
He  was  never  God ;  if  on  something  co-existent,  then  He  was 
only  co-deity  with  others.  Nor  can  he  be  conditioned  on  or 
limited  by  any  created  thing;  for  if  so,  the  Creator  would  be 
subject  to  his  creature. 

Reason  and  revelation  shut  us  up  to  this  unavoidable  di- 
lemma the  no-God,  that  revolting  negation,  that  vacuum  ab- 
horred by  nature  and  by  man — or,  a  God  majestic  in  His  own 
uncaused  and  all-causing  sovereignty — without  condition  or 
limit  to  His  power,  His  knowledge,  or  His  will.  Reason 
which  repels  atheism  with  horror,  and  revelation  which 
condemns  it  as  blasphemy  and  folly,  compel  faith  in  God  as  a 
"Spirit  infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable  in  His  being,  wis- 
dom, power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness  and  truth!  "  But  if  the 
believer  be  pressed  with  the  inquiry.  How  can  these  things  be  ? 
he   may  rationally  answer — that   he   sees  in  the  illimitable 


175 

spaces  about  and  around  him,  in  the  eternities  behind  and  be- 
fore him,  in  the  heavens  above  and  in  the  earth  beneath  him, 
facts  which  he  beheves,  but  whose  mysteries  he  cannot  explain. 
Belief  goes  beyond  the  limits  of  mere  comprehension.  Imagina- 
tion tires  and  faints  in  its  attempts  to  explore,  and  reason  fal- 
ters in  its  efforts  to  explain,  and  shall  faith  which  believes  in 
the  mysteries  of  creation,  when  it  cannot  understand  them, 
refuse  to  believe  in  the  grander  mysteries  of  the  Creator,  be- 
cause it  cannot  find  Him  out  unto  perfection  ? 

This  will  sufl&ce  to  show  that  the  Pauline  postulate  rested 
on  right  reason,  and  enabled  the  great  apostle  to  discern  clearly 
the  field  within  which  reason  may  work  and  its  well-defined 
boundaries,  beyond  which  it  is  irrational  to  work.  To  over- 
step these  limits  involves  the  folly  of  reaching  after  the  unat- 
tainable, and  the  audacity  of  blasphemy  and  treason  to  the 
divine  Sovereign.  It  is  therefore  the  highest  function  of  reason 
to  determine  the  limits  of  its  own  power,  and  to  leave  to  the 
humility  of  faith  what  it  finds  beyond  its  reach. 

The  relations  of  our  race  to  this  Supreme  Being,  according 
to  the  creed  of  the  apostle,  spring  from  the  responsibility  to 
the  divine  law  of  man,  as  free  to  do  his  duty  under  the  econ- 
omy of  redemption.  Disabled  and  weak  of  purpose  because 
of  a  depravity  which  by  heredity  has  alienated  him  from  God, 
the  proffer  of  grace  to  enable  him  to  perform  God's  will 
through  faith  in  His  Son,  places  man  in  an  attitude  of  entire 
dependence  on  divine  power  to  achieve  his  destiny  with  suc- 
cess. He  is  called  on  to  work  despite  his  disability,  because 
God  works  in  him  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure. 
The  assurance  of  adoption  as  a  child  of  God  is  offered  to  man, 
with  the  further  assurance  that  by  divine  aid  he  can  live  a 
life  of  faith,  and  be  kept  from  falling,  and  become  an  heir  of 
eternal  life,  won  for  him  by  the  vicarious  death  and  righteous- 
ness of  the  Redeemer. 

The  exultant  declaration  of  Paul  rings  in  the  ears  of  the 
timid  and  despondent  soul,  "  Who  shall  lay  anything  to  the 
charge  of  God's  elect?  Who  shall  condemn  him?  Who  or 
what  can  separate  him  from  the  love  of  the  eternal  God  in 
Christ?  "  He  is  not  only  safe,  but  will  continue  so  unto  the 
end,  because  God  has  purposed  to  perfect  in  Him  the  good 
work  He  has  begun.  Casting  away  all  self-reliance,  the  man 
rests  in  perfect  peace,  stayed  on  the  arm  which  upholds  the 
universe.  And  the  impulse  which  moves  the  human  heart 
to  do  its  part  in  this  work  is  the  constraining  force  of  eternal 
love,  stretched  out  to  the  man  by  the  hand  of  a  Redeemer 
dying  to  save  him.  For  it  is  worthy  of  the  faith  and  accept- 
ance of  all  men,  says  the  chief  of  apostles,  that  He  died  to  save 
the  chief  of  sinners. 


176 

The  Pauline  appeal  for  a  holy  life  is  based  not  on  the  fear 
of  God,  but  on  the  love  of  Christ.  Lost  and  helpless  the 
believer  finds  in  Him  that  power  which,  prompted  by  infi- 
nite love,  rescues  him  from  inherited  debasement  and  fits  him 
for  eternal  glory. 

This  creed  upheld  this  wonderful  apostle  through  a  life  of 
trial  until  he  reached  the  fate  of  martyrdom.  Divine  grace 
took  him  from  the  ranks  of  the  persecutors  of  the  Christians, 
and  made  his  life  an  example  of  religious  heroism ;  and  this 
faith  and  creed,  as  they  supported  him,  are  equally  adapted  to 
the  masses  of  mankind. 

This  Pauline  type  of  Christianity  presents  to  us  a  sum  of 
tremendous  verities,  which,  though  involving  seeming  incon- 
sistencies, have  been  cherished  by  the  Church  in  all  its  history. 
The  Trinity,  divine  sovereignty,  the  Incarnation,  the  exist- 
ence of  sin  and  suffering,  election  by  divine  purpose  to  salva- 
tion through  man's  faith,  which  is  itself  the  gift  of  God,  work- 
ing by  love  and  purifying  the  heart — the  grace  which  begins, 
continues  and  perfects  the  character  of  the  faithful — the  hu- 
man disability  which  can  only  get  effectual  power  by  divine 
gift,  and  without  it  must  fail — the  profound  mystery  of  the 
relation  between  infinite  purpose,  finite  will,  and  the  responsibil- 
ity of  the  creature  to  the  Creator — these,  as  already  indicated, 
puzzle  and  perplex  the  mind  and  heart,  but  are  trutlis  accepted 
as  absolute  verities  by  the  faith  which  filled  the  soul  of  Paul, 
and  which  he  preached  in  his  day,  and  which  have  been 
preached  to  the  masses  of  mankind  jprom  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era. 

This  Pauline  creed  seemed  to  the  Jew  a  stumbling-block, 
and  to  the  Greek  foolishness,  and  to  the  skepticism  of  a  later 
era  an  intellectual  paradox.  It  sees  the  invisible,  hears  the 
unutterable,  reaches  after  and  clings  to  the  intangible.  It 
removes  mountains  it  cannot  scale,  and  bridges  chasms  it  can- 
not overleap.  It  apprehends  what  it  cannot  comprehend,  per- 
ceives what  it  could  not  conceive,  receives  as  rational  what 
reason  could  not  discover  or  evolve,  and  staggers  to  accept,  and 
believes  what  is  almost  incredible.  It  trusts  that  justice  will 
justify  the  unjust,  put  the  sinner's  penalty  on  the  head  of  the 
sinless,  impute  infinite  perfection  to  the  unholy,  inflict  guilt's 
curse  on  innocence,  and  give  eternal  life  to  man  because  of  the 
death  of  the  God-man.  Its  helplessness  hangs  on  omnipotence 
to  enable  human  disability  to  glorify  God,  and  human  deprav- 
ity to  enjoy  Him  forever.  It  hopes  that  God  will  regenerate 
the  degenerate,  make  citizens  of  aliens,  and  children  by  adop- 
tion of  strangers,  and  turn  the  hate  of  enemies  to  loving  loyalty 
through  the  constraining  love  of  the  crucified  Christ,  aud 
that  thus,  by  divine  agency,  the  man  may  be  redeemed,  regen- 


177 

erated,  sanctified  and  exalted,  and  his  life  become  a  living 
sacrifice  of  his  corrupted  nature  to  the  glory  of  his  Creator 
and  King ! 

Paradox  this  may  well  seem  to  unbelief!  but  to  them  who 
believe,  it  is  a  faith  which  is  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wis- 
dom of  God  I  When  faith  staggers  its  outcry  is,  "  Lord  1  I 
believe,  help  Thou  mine  unbelief!"  and  when  it  revives,  with 
the  reverential  devotion  of  the  finite  to  the  infinite,  it  utters 
that  humble  but  noble  ascription  of  praise,  "  Oh !  the  depth, 
of  the  riches,  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  I 
How  unsearchable  are  His  judgments,  and  His  ways  past  find- 
ing out!" 

This  is  the  soul's  haven  of  rest  from  the  stormy  ocean  of 
doubt  and  despair — this  the  alternative  of  the  soul's  dilemma, 
from  that  human  logic,  which  would  else  inexorably  seize, 
drag  and  chain  it  in  the  dark,  dank  and  dismal  den  of  atheism, 
over  whose  awful  portals  is  written,  "  Who  enters  here,  leaves 
hope,  behind !  " 

But  this  Pauline  paradox  of  the  mind  results  in  a  moral 
paradox.  As  I  have  said,  faith  in  God  is  a  conservation  of  all 
rehgious  forces ;  and  these  constrain  the  man  to  supreme  eflbrt 
to  assimilate  himself  to  the  God  he  adores. 

It  is  obvious,  this  Pauline  creed  begets  in  the  man  an  awful 
sense  of  his  individual  and  single  relation  to  his  Creator,  Re- 
deemer, King  and  Judge ;  of  his  solemn  responsibility  for  life, 
for  its  use,  and  its  best  results ;  of  the  supreme  duty  and  chief 
end  of  his  life  to  make  his  manhood  reflect  the  divine  perfec- 
tions, and  thus  manifest  the  glory  of  God  in  the  subordination 
to  this  supreme  object  of  all  human  relations,  and  of  all  hu- 
man authority. 

Such  an  influence  induces  in  the  man  certain  leading  and 
permanent  qualities  of  character.  Humiliation  in  self-con- 
sciousness of  weakness,  dependence  and  sin,  with  entire  confi- 
dence in  the  strength  and  love  of  God  his  Father.  Submission 
to  God's  authority,  and  resistance  of  all  human  authority  con- 
trary thereto.  Reverence  deep  and  habitual  for  the  perfections 
of  Him,  whose  he  is  by  the  triple  titles  of  Creator,  Providence 
and  Redemption. 

And  contentment  in  whatsoever  state  he  is,  because  sincerely 
conscious  that  God  gives  him  more  good  than  he  merits — be- 
cause he  knows  that  all  is  ordered  by  God,  and  must  be  for 
the  best;  that  his  life  is  but  a  pilgrimage  to  his  not-distant 
home,  and  that  his  light  afliictions,  which  are  but  for  a  mo- 
ment, work  out  for  him  a  far  more  exceeding  and  an  eternal 
weight  of  glory. 

Thus  he  combines  genuine  humility  with  a  true  dignity  and 
self-respect.     Timid  of  his  own  power,  he  is  assured  of  divine 


178 

aid,  and  believes  lie  will  persevere  to  the  end.  He  is  strongest 
in  God,  when  weakest  in  self,  and  in  sincere  self- depreciation, 
is  boastful  of  the  divine  power  in  and  through  his  very  infir- 
mities, "  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ,  which  strengthen- 
eth  me."  As  the  Scotch  woman  said,  "  My  hope  is  not  in  the 
hold  I  have  on  Christ,  but  the  hold  He  has  on  me !"  The  be- 
liever is  cautious  to  avoid  error,  yet  bold  when  clear  as  to  the 
right.  He  knows  he  must  fail  in  self-reliance,  but  cannot  fail 
if  he  relies  on  God.  Firm  in  his  convictions,  he  has  sympathy 
for  those  who  are  in  error.  Courageous  in  logic  based  on  the 
bedrock  of  revealed  truth,  he  scorns  all  dishonest  evasion  and 
tortuous  subterfuge.  He  may  be  hard,  but  not  harsh  ;  is  meek, 
but  unbending ;  stern,  but  not  cruel ;  inflexible,  yet  charita- 
ble. He  is  fearless  of  man,  because  only  fearing  God,  and 
dreads  no  human  king  when,  against  his  usurpation,  he  defends 
the  divine  prerogative.  His  loyalty  to  the  divine  King  may 
lead  him  to  so-called  treason  to  an  earthly  monarch,  and  has 
made  him  ever  the  friend  of  liberty  against  tyranny,  acknowl- 
edging Christ  as  the  only  Head  of  His  Church  and  Lord  of 
the  human  conscience,  he  resists  all  human  authority  in  either 
as  treason  to  God  and  death  to  the  soul.  With  meek,  but  un- 
flinching courage,  the  Christian  has,  for  nineteen  centuries, 
answered  in  apostolic  words,  the  insolent  usurpers  of  divine 
prerogative,  "  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to 
hearken  unto  you  more  than  unto  God,  judge  ye!"  He  has 
burned  in  the  fires  of  martyrdom,  rather  than  yield  loyalty  to 
man  by  disloyalty  to  God. 

In  the  face  of  all  persecution,  in  the  midst  of  misfortunes 
and  dangers,  in  the  presence  of  death,  he  is  calm  and  in- 
trepid, for  he  is  safe  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty.  If 
called  to  battle  for  his  convictions,  as  a  soldier  he  stands  like  a 
stone  wall,  charges  like  a  thunderbolt  and  dies  a  Christian  hero ! 
"  For  he  knows  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to 
them  that  love  God,  to  them  who  are  called  according  to  His 
purpose,  and  if  God  gave  His  own  Son  to  redeem  them,  how 
will  He  not  with  Him  also  freely  give  them  all  things  ?  "  He 
may  adopt  the  noble  paraphrase  by  Wadsworth  of  this  lan- 
guage of  the  apostle: 

"  One  adequate  support 
For  the  calamities  of  mortal  life 
Exists,  one  only — an  assured  belief 
That  the  procession  of  our  fate,  however 
Sad  or  disturbed,  is  ordered  by  a  Being 
Of  infinite  benevolence  and  power 
Whose  everlasting  purposes  embrace 
All  accidents,  converting  them  to  good  !  " 

Wherever  this  system  has   taken  hold  it   has  created  in 


179 

the  masses  a  cliaracter  unique  and  powerful.  It  makes  a 
hardy,  firm  and  intrepid  people,  honest  in  principle  and  rigid 
in  morals,  simple  in  habits  and  sincere  in  manners,  deter- 
mined friends  to  right  and  uncompromising  foes  to  wrong,  in- 
flexible in  duty,  brave  in  danger,  and  meeting  misfortune, 
disaster  and  death  with  unshaken  fortitude  and  Christian 
resignation. 

This  Pauline  exposition  of  Christ's  doctrines  did  not  perish 
with  its  author,  but  survives  to  the  present  day  in  his  in- 
spired Epistles.  During  the  Christian  era  it  has  been  the  sub- 
ject of  fruitful  disputation,  but  found  an  early  advocate  and 
expounder  in  the  celebrated  Augustine  in  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries. 

Amid  all  the 'traditions  and  human  interpretations  which 
marked  the  history  of  the  papacy,  there  were  secluded  spots 
where  the  Pauline  faith  maintained  its  hold  upon  the  Christian 
mind.  The  Waldenses  in  the  Alps,  the  College  at  lona,  in  the 
mountains  of  Scotland,  and  more  especially  in  England,  where 
Wyclifte  in  the  fourteenth  century  and  Tyndale  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  by  the  translation  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  by 
their  teachings  preserved  and  sowed  the  seeds  of  the  evan- 
gelical Christianity  of  the  great  apostle.  The  opening  of  the 
sixteenth  century  found  the  British  island  ripe  for  the  Refor- 
mation. 

Paul  gave  the  keynote  to  that  wonderful  movement  in  his 
formula  that  "the  just  must  live  by  faith,"  and  when  Luther 
burned  the  Papal  Bull,  in  1521,  the  fire  caught  the  inflammable 
material  collected  by  the  Reformers  of  Great  Britain. 

But  "the  Reformers,"  says  Mr.  Froude,  "required  a  posi- 
tion more  sharply  defined  and  a  sterner  leader  than  Luther, 
and  that  leader  they  found  in  John  Calvin.  *  *  Nor  was 
there  Reformer  in  Europe  so  resolute  to  excise,  tear  out  and 
destroy  what  was  distinctly  seen  to  be  false — so  resolute  to 
establish  what  was  true  in  its  place  and  make  truth  to  the  last 
fibre  of  it  the  rule  of  practical  life.  *  *  The  Calvinists 
abhorred,  as  no  body  of  men  ever  abhorred,  all  conscious  men- 
dacity, all  impurity,  all  moral  wrong  of  every  kind,  so  far  as 
they  could  recognize  it.  AVhatever  exists  at  this  moment  in 
England  and  Scotland  of  conscientious  fear  of  doing  evil,  is  the 
remnant  of  the  convictions  branded  by  the  Calvinists  into  the 
people's  hearts.  *  *  Calvinism  was  the  spirit  which  rises 
in  revolt  against  untruth ;  the  spirit  which,  as  I  have  shown 
you,  has  appeared  and  reappeared,  and  in  due  time  will  appear 
again,  unless  God  be  a  delusion  and  man  be  as  the  beasts  that 
perish.  *  *  They  have  been  called  intolerant ;  but  there 
is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Calvinists  at  the  beginning 


180 

would  have  thought  of  meddling  with  the  Church,  if  they  had 
themselves  been  let  alone." 

John  Calvin  held  and  taught  the  Pauline  faith,  of  which  I 
have  spoken.  He  ^ras  the  uninspired  successor  of  the  inspired 
apostle.  God's  sovereignty,  unconditioned  and  unlimited,  was 
the  postulate  of  the  apostle  and  of  his  folloAver  at  Genoa. 
"  This  is,"  says  a  late  writer,  "  the  common  teaching  of  the 
greatest  God-inspired  souls  from  the  days  of  Moses  down  ;  the 
faith  of  Goethe  and  Carlyle,  as  well  as  of  Calvin  and  John 
Knox." 

John  Knox,  of  Scotland,  was  the  friend  and  contemporary  of 
Calvin.  The  Pauline  faith  filled  the  hearts  of  Huguenots  in 
France,  and  of  Puritans  and  Covenanters  in  England  and 
Scotland. 

A  century  passed,  and  the  struggle  in  Great  Britain  came  to 
its  great  issue,  when  the  British  lords  and  commons,  without 
royal  assent,  summoned  the  Assembly  of  Divines  to  West- 
minster, July  1,  16i3,  which  closed,  its  memorable  session  in 
1649. 

In  these  six  years  they  reformed  the  Articles  of  the  English 
Church,  and  published  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Larger 
and  Shorter  Catechisms. 

That  the  Shorter  Catechism  is  Calvinistic  is  true,  but  it  is 
Calvinistic  and  true  because  it  is  Pauline.  Our  Catechism 
follows  Paul,  clings  to  his  creed  and  emphasizes  his  doctrine. 
Other  Churches  do  not,  because,  in  fact,  Paul  is  too  Calvinistic. 
"  The  older  I  grow,"  said  Thomas  Carlyle,  "  and  I  now  stand 
on  the  brink  of  eternity,  the  more  comes  back  to  me  the  first 
sentence  in  the  Catechism  which  I  learned  when  a  child,  and 
the  fuller  and  deeper  its  meaning  becomes — "  What  is  the 
chief  end  of  man  ?"  "  To  glorify  God  and  enjoy  Him  for- 
ever !" 

This  is  the  fundamental  truth — man  charged  with  a  mission 
to  glorify  God,  and  aAvfully  responsible  for  its  fulfillment,  but 
with  a  glorious  destiny — to  enjoy  Him  forever.  This  it  is 
that  makes  man  a  trustee  of  his  talents  for  God — this  makes 
his  title  to  be  a  freeman — and  this  makes  him  resolute  and  in- 
trepid in  the  assertion  and  defense  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty. 

This  Catechism  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  the  Pauline 
statement  of  the  doctrines  of  Christ.  If  it  be,  why  should  we 
doubt  its  adaptation  to  mankind  ? 

That  men  are  adapted  to  it  I  may  not  affirm,  but  that  it 
may  be  adapted  to  them  by  divine  influence  is  beyond  doubt. 
"  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  spirit  of  God, 
for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him  ;  neither  can  he  know  them, 
for  they  are  spiritually  discerned." 

One  word  as  to  the  government  and  worship  of  our  Church. 


181 

When  Paul  sent  for  the  presbyters  of  the  Churcli  at  Ephe- 
sus,  he  told  them  to  take  heed  to  the  flock  over  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  had  made  them  bishops. 

The  Presbyterial  system  of  government  involves  an  avoid- 
ance of  papal  or  prelatical  supremacy  by  the  doctrine  of  the 
absolute  parity  of  the  presbyters  who  preach,  and  of  all  pres- 
byters in  the  rule  of  the  Church.  The  government  of  the 
Church  is  not  by  the  fixed  and  separate  caste  of  the  clergy, 
but  by  them  in  conjunction  with  those  who,  in  interest,  are  in 
accord  with  the  people — elected  by,  but  not  responsible  to 
them,  or  representatives  of  their  opinions.  The  Church  gov- 
ernment is  judicial,  not  legislative.  The  Presbytery,  and  like 
bodies,  are  courts  of  judicature — not  law-makers.  No  head 
but  Christ.  No  constitution  or  law,  but  the  supreme  law  of 
God  revealed  in  His  Scriptures.  The  courts  administer  that 
law  in  cases,  and  expound  it  in  their  testimonies. 

This  system  avoids  the  tendency  to  pride  and  domination, 
in  the  prelatical  system  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  self-suffi- 
ciency of  clerical  independence  on  the  other.  The  Council 
of  Presbyters,  in  parity,  excludes  all  ideas  of  superiors  and 
inferiors,  and  checks,  modifies  and  restrains  the  propensity 
which,  the  personal  idiosyncrasy  of  the  independent  clergy 
induces  of  departure  from  the  well-defined  creed  and  doc- 
trine of  the  whole  Church. 

The  absolute  Headship  of  Christ  in  His  Church,  witbout 
human  vicar  or  mortal  representative,  is  the  canon  of  the 
Scotch  Covenanter  and  of  the  English  Puritan.  It  was  the 
royal  denial  of  this  in  England  and  Scotland  which  infused 
religious  enthusiasm  into  the  English  revolution  and  which, 
united  with  the  assertion  of  civil  liberty,  made  the  John 
Hampdens  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  this  religious 
fervor  for  the  divine  and  against  the  human  king  in  the 
Church  which  made  them  what  Mr.  Hallam  describes  so 
strongly:  "The  Presbyterian  clergy  of  Scotland,  individually 
and  collectively,  displayed  the  intrepid,  haughty  and  intract- 
able spirit  of  the  English  Puritans." 

In  regard  to  Avorship — the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  su- 
preme importance  it  attaches  to  doctrine ;  in  its  earnest  regard 
to  substance  in  truth  in  preference  to  mere  forms  ;  in  the  view 
it  takes  of  the  majesty  of  God  and  the  subordination  of  man  ; 
in  its  estimate  of  prayer  as  the  most  simply  expressed  self- 
consciousness  of  entire  dependence  upon  the  divine  power  and 
submission  to  the  divine  will,  working  by  divine  love  and 
wisdom,  to  the  achievement  of  the  divine  purpose  for  the  good 
of  those  who  love  God ;  and  in  the  exclusion  of  all  forms  of 
human  pride  and  pompous  ceremonial  by  human  instruments 
— has  always  adhered  to  a  simple,  unostentatious  and  solemn 


182 

worship,  as  best  fitted  to  manife&t  the  proper  spirit  of  man  in 
his  approach  to  the  presence,  and  in  his  appeal  to  the  mercy 
of  the  God  and  Father  of  all  His  faithful  children. 

For  many  reasons  I  hold  that  the  Presbyterian  system  of 
doctrine,  government  and  worship  is  admirably  adapted  to  the 
masses  of  men.  Time  permits  me  only  to  state  some  of  these 
in  condensed  form,  without  any  attempt  at  exposition. 

First — Truth,  revealed  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  men,  in 
its  purity  and  simplicity,  however  hard  to  be  understood — as 
Peter  said  of  some  of  Paul's  teachings — must  be  fitted  to  be 
believed  and  accepted  by  them.  It  is  declared  to  be  a  faith- 
ful saying  and  of  all  men  to  be  received. 

Second — Paul  expressly  declares  in  his  day,  that  not  many 
wise  men  after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighjy,  not  many  noble, 
are  called,  but  that  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the 
world  to  confound  the  mighty. 

The  converts  to  Paul's  preaching  were  among  the  masses 
of  the  people. 

Third — In  Scotland,  England  and  America,  from  the  days 
of  Wycliffe  until  now,  the  common  people  have  embraced  the 
doctrine  and  order  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  with  more 
zeal  and  tenacity  than  other  classes.  The  simple  solidity  of 
its  creed,  the  absence  of  ceremonial  in  its  worship,  and  its 
government,  which  discards  all  caste  and  admits  the  people 
into  the  administration  of  its  ecclesiastical  affairs,  have  found 
in  their  hearts  a  willing  assent  and  a  cordial  support.  Its 
majestic  doctrines,  hard  to  be  understood,  have  grasped  the 
most  powerful  intellects,  and  have  as  strongly  taken  hold  of 
the  minds  and  natures  of  the  simple  and  intelligent  masses  of 
mankind. 

And  it  may  here  be  properly  noted,  that  while  our  Church 
may  not  embrace  within  its  fold,  by  direct  influence,  all  the 
masses  of  men,  yet  the  truths  of  which  it  is  the  living  repre- 
sentative, by  indirect  influence  permeates  other  denominations 
of  the  universal  Church.  Its  membership  is  not  the  measure 
of  its  influence  and  adaptation.  Every  Protestant  Church 
will  attest  the  adaptation  of  its  creed  to  members  in  their 
folds,  not  called  by  one  name. 

The  rain-fall  reaches  the  lower  masses  of  earth,  in  part  by 
direct  contact,  in  part  by  percolation  through  intermediate 
strata.  The  mountain  streams  are  made  reservoirs,  which 
may,  through  other  channels  than  their  own,  irrigate  and  fer- 
tilize the  dry  and  barren  plains  below,  and  make  them  fresh 
and  fruitful.  Our  Church  feeds  her  healthful  children  on  the 
strong  meat  of  Gospel  truth,  from  which  others  extract  the 
pieces  of  vital  principle  for  those  who  are  weak  in  the  faith 
and  not  to  be  received  to  doubtful  disputations.     She  teaches 


183 

the  teachers  from  whom,  if  not  from  her  directly,  the  masses 
learn  the  grand  doctrines  of  her  Confession  and  her  Catechism. 

The  Pauline  system  has  found  in  its  ranks  the  largest  minds 
of  all  eras,  and  in  the  inimitable  picture  of  the  "Cotter's  Sat- 
urday Night,"  we  see  the  calm  and  serene  family  devotion  of 
the  humble  poor  man  among  the  Presbyterians  of  old  Scot- 
land— a  scene,  the  likeness  of  which  all  of  us  have  witnessed, 
in  the  homes  of  our  Church  in  America.  It  comes  to  the 
heart  of  the  greatest  and  the  humblest ;  it  expands  to  fill  the 
one  and  contracts  to  enter  the  other.  It  presses  with  equal 
step  into  the  palace  of  the  king,  and  the  hovel  of  the  poor. 

Fourth — One  other  view  is  important.  It  is  the  best  edu- 
cator of  the  masses.  It  teaches  the  proper  uses  of  human 
reason,  and  the  limits  to  its  powers.  It  teaches  humility 
before  God,  and  self-respect  and  dignity  among  men,  content- 
ment with  our  lot,  in  submission  to  the  divine  order,*obedi- 
ence  to  rightful  authority  as  the  ordination  of  God,  and  resist- 
ance to  tyranny  over  the  soul,  as  obedience  to  God.  It- 
anchors  faith  to  a  written  Word,  and  subjects  all  power  in 
State  and  Church  to  the  fixed  and  unchangeable  will  of  the 
supreme  constitutional  authority.  It  fills  the  mind  with 
grand  ideas,  and  excludes  all  mean  and  low  thoughts ;  it 
demands  reflection  in  order  to  grasp  its  wonderful  truths,  and 
thus  strengthens  minds  of  large  and  small  original  capacity, 
and  elevates  the  soul  to  infinite  anticipations  by  hope  based 
on  the  divine  promise,  which  faith  embraces  and  to  which  it 
clings. 

Fifth — But  it  does  more.  It  makes  free  institutions  possi- 
ble, as  they  are  essential  to  man's  duty  to  God  ;  possible — be- 
cause it  is  only  as  man  is  self  governed  by  a  supreme  law 
in  his  heart,  that  the  need  of  external  government,  to  main- 
tain the  order  of  society,  approaches  its  minimum,  for  strong 
governments  are  required  to  keep  in  order  men  who  have 
no  self-control — and  the  restraints  of  human  liberty  may 
safely  be  lessened — when,  and  only  when,  man  learns  to  gov- 
ern himself  by  religious  principle. 

Hence,  where  Christianity  has  prevailed,  liberty  becomes 
more  possible.  And  where  it  has  prevailed  in  its  purest  forms, 
liberty  has  reached  it  greatest  ascendancy. 

And  liberty  is  essential  to  the  self-development  with  which 
God  has  entrusted  the  man.  He  must  be  free  to  fulfill  his 
Master's  mission  from  all  restraints  which  impair  his  power  to 
peri'orm  it. 

Therefore  if  we  are  right  in  saying  that  we  hold  the  truth 
in  its  purest  form,  its  adaptation  to  the  masses  of  men  is  evi- 
dent from  its  making  free  institutions  possible,  wliich  we  deem 
essential  to  the  progres.s,  elevation  and  highest  development  of 


184 

man,  Aud  as  our  system  builds  up  mind  and  heart  to  be  in- 
telligent to  comprelienci,  and  to  be  brave  to  assert  liberty,  it 
not  only  makes  it  possible,  but  certain  to  follow  where  our 
Church  system  prevails.  History  confirms  what  reason  would 
have  led  us  to  anticipate  in  this  regard.  These  lines  of  sugges- 
tion must  sufiice. 

Without  pride,  but  in  humble  and  grateful  recognition  of 
the  goodness  of  God,  the  Presbyterian  Church  may  hope  it 
has  done  in  part  what  it  could.  It  has  struggled  for  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  inspired  Word  of  God  and  for  the  unadulter- 
ated truth  it  teaches.  It  stands  to-day  in  the  hands  of  God 
to  do  battle  for  the  truth  of  Christ  as  He  taught  it  and  as 
Paul  expounded  it  into  a  doctrinal  system.  It  battles  not 
only  with  doubting  Deism,  which  rejects  Christianity  and 
shrinks  from  atheism,  and  does  not  see  in  its  blindness  that  it 
embraces  the  defects  it  attributes  to  the  one  and  sanctions  the 
absurdity  it  sees  in  the  other.  Nor  does  it  battle  only  with  the 
skepticism  of  the  agnostic,  the  eunuch  of  theological  debate, 
the  know-nothing  Pilate,  or  the  care-nothing  Galho  of  religi- 
ous controversy,  but  it  battles  with  the  one  great  and 
real  Lucifer  of  error,  who  denies  all,  because  as  his  reason  can 
prove  nothing  he  is  justified  in  the  negation  of  all  religion. 
It  battles  for  the  Jehovah  against  the  no-God,  for  Christianity 
against  atheism  in  all  its  shapes,  as  the  only  faith  which  can 
give  hope  to  man,  as  the  only  divine  force  which  can  and  will 
adapt  itself  to  the  masses  of  mankind,  to  save,  sanctify  and 
glorify  a  fallen,  helpless  and  degenerate  race.  In  this  warfare 
our  Church  has  under  God  won  victories.  Let  it  persevere 
unto  the  end  by  filling  the  minds  of  the  masses  with  the  ma- 
jesty of  divine  truth  as  taught  by  its  standards  and  formu- 
lated from  the  Word  of  God.  In  catholic  charity  to  all  other 
Churches  let  us  uphold  the  truth  as  the  Bible  reveals  it  and 
follow  Paul  as  he  followed  Christ. 


PRESBYTERIANISM    AND     BIBLICAL 
SCHOLARSHIP. 


By  Rev.  Howard  Crosby,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

N'eiv  York  City. 


NOTHING  is  more  emphasized  in  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession than  the  inspiration  and  authority  of  the 
Bible.  "  Holy  Scripture  "  is  "  the  Word  of  God  writ- 
ten "  and  is  "  given  by  inspiration  of  God  to  be  the  rule  of 
faith  and  life"  (Ch.  i,  Sec.  2).  "The  Old  Testament  in 
Hebrew  and  the  New  Testament  in  Greek,  being  immediately 
inspired  of  God,  and  by  his  singular  care  and  providence  kept 
pure  in  all  ages,  are  therefore  authentical"  (Ch.  i,  Sec.  8). 
*'  The  infallible  rule  of  interpretation  of  Scripture  is  the  Scrip- 
ture itself"  (Ch.  i.  Sec.  9).  "  The  Supreme  Judge,  by  which 
all  controversies  of  religion  are  to  be  determined,  and  all 
decrees  of  councils,  opinions  of  ancient  writers,  doctrines  of 
men  and  private  spirits  are  to  be  examined,  and  in  whose  sen- 
tence we  are  to  rest  can  be  no  other  but  the  Holy  Spirit 
speaking  in  the  Scripture  "  (Ch.  i,  Sec.  10). 

The  Larger  Catechism  is  equally  explicit.  The  third  ques- 
tion is,  "  "What  is  the  Word  of  God?"  and  the  answer  is,  "The 
Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  are  the  Word 
of  God,  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  obedience." 

In  accordance  with  this  fundamental  position,  the  Presby- 
terian Church  has  always  considered  the  careful  and  minute 
study  of  the  Bible  as  the  safeguard  of  true  religion,  and  has 
made  that  study  a  chief  aim  in  its  provisions.  Not  content 
with  pressing  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  among  all,  it 
has  insisted  on  an  educated  ministry,  who  should  be  familiar 
with  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  tongues,  and  so  derive 
their  pulpit-teachings  from  the  very  fountain-head  of  reve- 
lation. 

Our  Church  has  always  shrunk  from  proclaiming  a  loose 

Gospel  more  or  less  unconnected  with  the   holy   Word,  and 

has  feared  that  even  the  honest  efforts  of  ignorant  men  might 

readily  lead  to  dangerous  heresies  in  belief  and  practice,  it 

185 


186 

being  so  easy  to  mingle  human  notions  and  human  expedients 
with  the  divine  commands.  It  is  this  wliolesome  conserva- 
tism which  has  ever  induced  our  Church  to  lay  stress  upon 
the  school  of  the  prophets,  so  that  wherever  it  carried  the 
Gospel  it  began  at  once  to  found  a  seminary  for  the  profound 
study  of  the  "Word  by  candidates  for  the  holy  ministry.  If 
we  consider  the  action  of  the  Synod  in  1729,  adopting  the 
subscription  to  the  Westminster  Confession  as  a  requisite  for 
the  ministr}^,  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  thoroughly  organized 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country,  we  find  that  just  at  that 
period  the  Tennent  School  at  Neshaminy,  the  "  Log  College," 
was  indoctrinating  candidates  in  the  Word,  and  Nassau  Hall 
followed  close  upon  this  epoch.  This  institution  at  Princeton 
was  conspicuously  a  Church  seminary,  although  the  theolog- 
ical seminary  by  that  name  did  not  emerge  from  this  early 
foundation  till  more  than  seventy  j^ears  later.  Even  when 
such  serious  differences  and  separations  occurred  in  our 
Church  as  the  Old  and  New  Side  separation  of  1745-58,  each 
party  was  strenuous  in  sustaining  the  careful  training  of  the 
ministry  in  the  Word,  and  the  Synodical  School  of  the  accom- 
plished Francis  Alison  was  a  monument  of  the  zeal  of  the 
Old  Side  in  this  regard,  while  Princeton  was  an  equal  token 
of  the  energy  of  the  New  Side.  This  same  instructive  fact  is 
noticeable  in  the  more  modern  differences  and  separations  that 
have  occurred  in  our  Church.  All  parties  have  been  alike 
faithful  in  insisting  upon  an  educated  ministry  and  on  making 
the  study  of  God's  Word  as  the  basis  of  all  intellectual  pre- 
paration for  the  work.  It  is  this  careful  conservatism  with 
regard  to  the  Bible  that  has  preserved  the  Church  from  the 
contaminations  of  human  philosophy  on  one  side  and  of 
human  impulsive  excitements  on  the  other.  We  have  felt 
that  no  road  was  safe  that  was  not  clearly  revealed  in  the 
Word  of  God,  and  whenever  departures  from  this  path  of 
Bible  truth  have  occurred  in  our  ministry,  the  Church  has 
been  prompt  to  cut  off  the  offending  member  and  has  cheer- 
fully borne  the  popular  reproach  of  narrowness  and  bigotry  in 
consequence. 

The  modern  assaults  upon  the  Word  of  God,  Avhich  began  in 
Germany,  have  been  repelled  by  no  branch  of  Christ's  Church 
so  persistently  and  so  successfully  as  by  the  Presbyterian.  The 
speedy  action  of  his  General  Assembly  in  Scotland,  when  Rob- 
ertson Smith  endeavored  to  bring  his  learned  infidelity  into 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  showed  how  readily  the  Church  spues 
out  the  poison  that  Satan  would  so  slyly  administer.  Our 
Church  knows  well  that  when  the  Holy  Word  is  tampered 
with,  and  inspiration  reduced  to  a  defective  ecstasy  with  in- 
definite human  elements,  the  foundations  of  Christianity  are 


187 

"undermined,  and  poor  needy  man  sent  to  his  protean  pliiloso- 
phy  for  shelter.  This  is  but  the  first  and  most  important  step 
back  to  paganism.  If  prophets  mixed  their  own  thoughts 
with  God's,  if  apostles  used  false  arguments,  and  if  Christ  Him- 
self had  a  superstitious  regard  for  the  Scriptures  from  ignor- 
ance, then  we  cannot  tell  why  Plato  is  not  as  good  a  teacher 
as  Paul,  and  why  Schleiermacher's  wisdom  is  not  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  Christ's  ignorance.  This  is  the  road  down  to  the 
abyss  of  infidelity,  opened  by  Germany,  and  carefully  worked 
by  the  conceited  learning  that  counts  German  approbation  as 
the  seal  of  nobility. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  will  have  none  of  this.  It  stands 
by  the  side  of  its  divine  Redeemer,  and  declares  that  every  "jot 
and  tittle  "  of  the  Scriptures  is  truth,  and  pronounces  a  woe 
upon  him  who  would  add  unto  or  take  away  from  the  words 
of  the  Sacred  Book.  It  declares  the  handling  of  the  Book  as 
a  fable  in  the  name  of  "  Higher  Criticism,"  to  be  trimmed  and 
altered  according  to  the  pattern  shown  in  the  inner  conscious- 
ness, is  itself  a  sacrilege,  and  it  insists  that  the  Holy  Book  has 
a  position,  a  character  and  a  history,  that  makes  reverence  the 
very  first  requisite  in  him  who  would  approach  and  search  it. 
It  teaches  that  the  maxim,  used  by  the  daring  innovators,  that 
we  must  treat  the  Bible  as  we  treat  any  other  book,  is  a  false 
maxim  to  begin  with,  as  denying  the  a  priori  claims  to  rever- 
ence and  obedience  which  it  possesses,  and  that  the  belittling 
of  the  supernatural,  which  accompanies  the  use  of  this  maxim, 
is  the  very  essence  of  a  proud  unbelief. 

Such  is  the  position  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  with  re- 
gard to  the  Bible,  the  charter  of  our  spiritual  life  and  liber- 
ties. Our  General  Assemblies  have  given  deliverances  often, 
and  always  in  the  same  key,  on  this  vital  question,  and  have 
plainly  shown  that  the  Church  considers  this  doctrine  of  the 
inerrancy  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  very  basis  of  all  its  doc- 
trines, without  which  none  could  stand. 

As  a  natural  consequence  of  such  a  position  with  regard  to 
the  written  Word  of  God,  our  Church  has  produced  Biblical 
scholars  of  thorough  research  and  lasting  fame.  The  very 
reverence  with  which  they  have  explored  the  Scriptures  has 
given  them  an  insight  which  the  irreverent  spirit  could  never 
possess.  They  have  been  led  into  the  recesses  of  truth,  where 
unsanctificd  learning  was  left  standing  at  the  portal,  and  they 
have  brought  out  the  spiritual  thought  for  the  cheer  and  com- 
fort of  the  heart  by  consistent  confidence  in  the  verbal  inspi- 
ration of  the  Bible,  that  verbal  inspiration  which  a  distin- 
guished seminary  professor  lately  declared  to  be  a  dogma  that 
had  been  destroyed.  If,  however,  that  learned  professor 
means  that  the  Church  does  not  believe  in  the  mechanical 


188 

theory  of  inspiration,  all  will  agree  with  him  ;  but  if  he  means 
that  the  Church  does  not  believe  in  the  divine  superintendence 
of  every  word  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  so  that  the 
sacred  writings  are  preserved  from  all  error,  then  he  is  grossly 
mistaken,  and  he  will  find  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has 
nev(!r  faltered  in  its  firm  belief  in  the  verbal  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  There  is  no  middle  ground  between  this 
complete  and  verbal  inspiration  and  a  doubtful  Scripture,  a 
nose  of  wax.  We  need  hardly  state  that  no  theory  of  verbal 
inspiration  ever  ignored  the  errors  of  translation  and  tran- 
scription, the  theory  having  regard  only  to  the  original  words 
of  the  holy  men  of  God,  who  spake  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

This  devotion  to  the  "Word  as  God's  and  not  man's  has  made 
the  Biblical  scholarship  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  conspicu- 
ous for  its  thoroughness.  The  mind  has  been  quickened  by  the 
thought  that  it  was  a  divine  mine  that  was  being  explored 
and  that  heavenly  gems  were  to  be  the  reward  of  research. 
The  ranks  of  Presbyterian  scholars,  versed  in  the  Greek  and  He- 
brew and  intimately  acquainted  with  Oriental  archaeology, 
have  been  full,  and  their  contributions  to  Biblical  literature 
have  been  remarkable  both  in  quantity  and  quality. 

At  the  very  head  of  these  is  Calvin  himself,  whose  commenta- 
ries on  the  Scriptures  continue  to  this  day,  notwithstanding  the 
side  lights  thrown  on  the  Scriptures  from  modern  explorations 
in  Eastern  lands,  to  be  a  refreshing  source  of  exposition  and 
explanation,  marked  by  profound  insight,  comprehensive 
judgment  and  spiritual  sympathies.  Scotland  has  followed 
Geneva,  and  a  galaxy  of  names  of  lasting  fame  for  Biblical 
learning  adorn  her  ecclesiastical  history.  If  a  few  of  these 
bright  names  have  become  tarnished  with  Continental  rational- 
ism, they  are  the  marked  exceptions,  against  whom  the  learning 
of  the  Scotch  Churches  has  triumphantly  protested.  Milligan, 
Roberts,  Bruce,  Murphy,  Stuart,  Watts,  Gloag,  and  a  host  of 
others,  are  men  who,  with  their  learning,  have  a  ballast  of 
common  sense,  and  are  not  to  be  overset  by  the  dexterous 
legerdemain  of  J.  E\  E'.  JE.  D.  HG.  Q.  and  R.,  and  the  "  presto- 
change"  which  divides  books,  chapters  and  verses  into  a 
thousand  fragments,  to  be  put  together  again  in  most  marvel- 
ous combinations,  with  dates  and  authors  supplied  ad  libitum 
from  the  inner  consciousness.  Such  a  wholesale  slaughter  of 
history  and  tradition  does  not  suit  the  sober  minds  of  Scot- 
land. The  learned  Presbyterian  divines  of  that  Bible-loving 
land  are  not  prepared  to  rewrite  the  Holy  Book,  nor  are  they 
arrogant  enough  to  speak  and  act  as  if  they  had  been  present 
when  the  words  of  that  book  were  first  written  down. 

In  our  own  country  we  have  gloried  as  Presbyterians  in  the 


189 

Biblical  learning  of  such  worthies  as  John  Ewing,  Archibald 
and  Addison  Alexander,  Charles  Hodge  and  Archibald  Alex- 
ander Hodge,  Eli  Smith,  Edward  Robinson,  Albert  Barnes, 
John  Lillie,  George  Bush  and  Taylor  Lewis,  and  we  have 
still  with  us  the  conspicuous  names  of  C.  R.  Gregory,  B,  B. 
Warfield,  S.  Ives  Curtiss,  M.  B.  Riddle,  W.  J.  Beecher,  W.  G. 
T.  Shedd,  Phihp  Schaif,  C.  A.  Briggs,  Francis  Brown,  S.  H. 
Kellogg,  Isaac  H.  Hall,  II.  C.  Trumbull  and  W.  II.  Green. 
While  one  or  two  of  these  have  been  captivated  by  the  i(jnis 
fatuus  of  destructive  criticism,  in  the  others  we  have  had 
some  of  the  most  trenchant  rebukes  of  this  learned  inebriety 
and  the  most  conclusive  demonstrations  of  the  integrity  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  The  high  attainment  in  Biblical  scholar- 
ship which  has  always  marked  our  Church  has  certainly  as 
one  of  its  causes  the  happy  position  of  Presbyterianism  between 
ecclesiasticism  and  independency.  Ecclesiasticism,  as  seen  in 
the  prelatical  churches,  naturally  lays  great  stress  on  the  mass 
of  ecclesiastical  law  that  has  issued  from  councils  and  other 
Church  authorities,  and  the  more  this  is  magnified  the  more 
is  the  direct  application  to  Holy  Scripture  diminished.  The 
Ftudy  of  the  clergy  is  principally  in  the  direction  of  ordinances 
and  decretals,  and  through  these  the  Word  is  obscured  as 
often  as  it  is  exemplified.  On  the  other  hand,  independency 
has  a  direct  tendency  to  tempt  the  mind  to  wild  adventures, 
in  which  the  Word  is  set  aside  for  philosophy,  and  the  study 
now  is  of  science  and  the  endeavor  to  evolve  Christianity  out 
of  human  reasoning  rather  than  the  Bible. 

Between  these  two  extremes  stands  our  Presbyterianism 
with  sufficient  ecclesiastical  order  to  maintain  consistency  and 
wholesome  thrift,  and  with  enough  independence  to  make  the 
appeal  to  the  Scriptures  constant  and  conclusive.  The  re- 
sultant from  these  two  movements  is  the  universal  study  of 
the  Bible  by  the  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  so 
that  as  a  whole  the  Presbyterian  clergy  are  Biblical  scholars 
to  a  degree,  and  are  able  to  argue  directly  from  the  Scriptures 
for  the  faith  that  is  in  them.  No  earthly  general  commands 
a  Presbyterian  minister  to  go  hither,  or  thither  and  so  gives 
him  simply  the  position  of  a  servant  to  obey  an  order,  and 
yet  he  is  under  the  oversight  of  his  brethren  in  the  Presby- 
tery, who  can  check  any  aberration  from  the  line  of  truth.  This 
position  is  the  most  favorable  for  the  examination  of  his  own 
foundations  and  for  the  responsible  definition  of  his  own 
duties,  and  shuts  him  up  to  the  divine  law  and  testimony  as 
his  counselor  and  guide.  We  would  not  for  a  moment  deny 
the  splendid  Biblical  scholarship  of  many  who  have  belonged 
to  prelatical  and  independent  systems.  They  have  overcome 
the  influences  around  them.     Their  individualism  has  asserted 


190 

itself  on  one  side  and  their  conservatism  on  the  other  in  spite 
of  the  system  to  which  they  belonged.  Certain  it  is,  how- 
ever, that  the  stronger  the  prelatical  system  is  the  more  is 
the  mind  of  the  clergy  mnzzled,  and  the  looser  the  independ- 
ency is  the  more  wild  are  the  vagaries  of  its  ministers.  Be- 
tween these  extremes  lies  the  thorough  searching  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  hence  the  prevailing  Biblical  scholarship  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Where  the  Scriptures  are  honored  as  the  sole  rule  of  faith 
and  practice,  and  neither  ecclesiastical  authority  nor  philoso- 
phy is  allowed  to  rival  them,  there  will  necessarily  be  a  more 
devout  and  reverent  approach  to  the  Holy  Word,  and  the 
Biblical  scholarship  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  noted  for 
this  worshipful  posture  before  God's  oracle.  It  cannot  handle 
lightly  the  sacred  page.  It  cannot  toss  it  into  a  crucible,  or 
mix  it  with  acids,  or  dissect  it  with  knives,  as  a  heterogeneous 
compound  to  be  analyzed.  It  has  a  priori  a  holy  character, 
and  its  examination  must  be  with  the  eye  of  faith  and  not  with 
the  rude  hand  of  skepticism.  A  godly  Biblical  scholarship 
regards  the  claims  which  the  Word  has  on  the  believer  from 
our  Lord's  own  testimony  and  treatment,  and  from  the  Church's 
faithful  reception  of  it  for  the  ages,  and  hence  is  not  ready  to 
make  an  apparent  discrepancy  or  difficulty  a  signal  for  a  revolt. 
It  has  seen  how  alleged  discrepancies,  magnified  by  learned 
skeptics  in  former  times,  have  been  proved  to  be  perfect  har- 
monies, and,  while  the  skeptics  seem  to  have  learned  nothing 
from  their  repeated  blunders,  godly  scholars  have  been  en- 
couraged to  hold  fast  to  the  holy  volume  in  perfect  faith  that 
every  difficulty  will  be  made  clear,  when  our  ignorance  be- 
comes enlightened.  It  is  under  the  name  of  the  higher  criti- 
cism that  the  assaults  on  the  integrity  and  authority  of  the 
Word  have  been  made.  Higher  criticism  ought  to  be  very 
modest.  Jt  is  a  criticism  from  very  vague  data.  It  is  a  criti- 
cism not  of  the  text,  but  of  the  mind  and  purpose,  time  and 
circumstances,  methods  and  authority  of  the  sacred  writers. 
In  such  a  criticism  the  subjective  is  ever  tempted  to  take  the 
lead  and  the  imaginative  to  create  the  facts.  Invention  and 
ingenuity  take  the  place  of  sound  judgment  by  reason  of  our 
ignorance  of  the  factors  that  produced  the  result.  In  such  a 
field,  theorists  spring  up  like  mushrooms,  and  instead  of  mod- 
estly proposing  a  theory,  they  dogmatize  with  contemptuous 
sneers  at  all  conservative  scholars  as  ignoramuses.  The  higher 
criticism,  which,  at  the  very  best,  is  but  surmising  (sometimes, 
doubtless,  with  convincing  probability),  is  conducted  as  if  it 
were  an  exact  science,  and  the  dicta  of  its  apostles  to  be 
accepted  as  the  plainest  truth  of  the  multiplication  table. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  a  representative  scholarship 


191 

•wbicli  rejects  this  error,  and  declares  the  Bible  to  rest  on  a 
foundation  that  cannot  be  shaken  by  insidious  suggestions  and 
learned  guesses.  Presbyterian  scholarship  cannot  read  the  sol- 
emn declarations  in  Exodus  that  God  gave  Moses  the  law  com- 
prised in  that  book  and  in  Leviticus  at  Sinai — declarations 
repeated  over  and  over  again — and  then  say  that  this  law 
(called  the  priest-code  in  the  cant  of  the  skeptics)  was  not  given 
by  God  to  Moses,  but  was  a  compilation  of  a  later  date. 

Presbyterian  scholarship  cannot  read  the  Book  of  Deuter- 
onomy, wherein  Moses  speaks  all  the  way  through  in  the 
trans-Jordanic  region,  and  then  say  that  Moses  had  nothing  to 
do  with  that  book.  Presbyterian  scholarship  cannot  proclaim 
the  Bible  a  fraud  and  that  its  solemn  statements  are  lies,  that 
the  whole  Jewish  Church  was  deceived  and  that  our  Lord  and 
His  apostles  were  equally  duped,  all  of  which  must  be  the  case, 
if  we  are  to  accept  the  teachings  of  the  higher  criticism  as  it 
prevails  to-day  in  Germany,  and  as  it  is  echoed  by  the  Teuto- 
latric  disciples  in  England  and  America. 

Presbyterian  scholarship  reasonably  and  devoutly  stands  by 
the  Lord  Himself  and  takes  His  evidence  as  final,  not  counting 
the  Saviour  of  the  world  either  a  dupe  or  a  deceiver,  and  from 
this  holy  position  is  abundantly  able  to  meet  and  divert  all  the 
plausible  darts  of  the  adversary.  It  uses  its  reason  and  its 
learning  not  to  magnify  apparent  discrepancies,  but  to  trace 
out  superb  harmonies,  and,  by  the  very  history  of  criticism  in 
the  past,  establishes  this  to  be  the  only  true  way  for  scholarship 
to  act.  It  has  had  enough  of  these  harmonies  revealed 
already  in  the  teeth  of  skeptical  objections  to  warrant  it,  as 
the  only  reasonable  thing,  to  expect  the  ignominious  over- 
throw of  every  skeptical  stronghold. 

This  Biblical  scholarship  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  de- 
mands as  a  first  requisite  in  Bible  study  (as  we  have  seen)  the 
reverential  spirit  toward  the  Book  of  God.  It  cannot,  it  will 
not,  permit  a  jaunty  air  in  the  treatment  of  the  sacred  page. 
It  flings  from  it  such  methods  as  vulgar  and  profane.  Its 
position  by  the  side  of  the  Lord  gives  it  this  holy  disgust 
witli  the  flippant  action  of  so  many  of  the  so-called  higher 
critics.  And  we  may  be  assured  that  this  devout  attitude, 
which  is  not  the  worship  of  the  Book,  but  the  worship  of  the 
divine  Author  of  the  Book,  will  ever  mark  the  Church  that 
we  love  and  which  God  has  so  wonderfully  blessed. 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  COVENENT. 


By  Rev.  Givens  B.  Strickler,  D.D., 
Atlanta,  Ga. 


THE  Presbyterian  Church  has  always  given  special  atten- 
tion to  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  children  under  its 
care.  Presbyterians  wherever  found  in  the  world  have, 
as  a  rule,  been  characterized  by  as  intelligent  and  profound 
concern  for  the  religioas  welfare  of  the  youth  as  any  religious 
denomination.  We  claim  that  the  Waldenses,  who,  it  is  com- 
monly believed,  were  driven  to  their  mountain  fastnesses  dur- 
ing the  persecutions  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  and  who, 
in  that  dark  age  of  the  world's  history  and  Church's  apos- 
tasy, preserved  in  great  purity  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the 
Protestant  world,  were  Presbyterians,  We  claim  that  all  the 
Churches  which  sprang  out  of  the  Reformation  are  Presbyte- 
rian, the  Church  in  Germany,  the  Church  in  Holland,  the 
Church  in  Switzerland,  the  Church  in  France,  the  Church  in 
Scothmd,  and  so  much  of  the  Church  in  England  as  was  truly 
reformed.  We  claim  that  we  can  prove  that  these  Churches 
held  doctrines  and  a  polity  substantially  that  whicli  is  held  by 
the  two  great  denominations  represented  here  to-night. 

By  numerous  citations  we  could  show  that  those  Churches 
regarded  as  one  of  their  chief  functions  the  fostering  of  reli- 
gion, not  only  in  the  Church,  but  in  the  family  and  in  the 
school.  Those  catechisms  put  in  the  hands  of  our  Presbyte- 
rian boys  and  girls,  master-pieces  of  catechetical  skill,  those 
inimitable  summaries  of  religious  truth  that  present  the  most 
luminous  of  all  the  great  doctrines  of  God's  Word,  and  the 
guard  against  almost  every  error  that  has  ever  assailed  the 
truth,  and  have  attracted  the  admiration  and  compelled  the 
praise  of  all  intelligent  people  in  all  parts  of  the  world  ;  those 
catechisms  have,  for  more  than  two  hundred  years,  been  in 
the  hands  of  Presbyterian  children,  and  they  have  been  studied 
and  learned,  and  one  result  is  that,  when  the  children  grow  up 
to  be  men  and  women,  they  become  as  orthodox,  as  sturdy 
and  as  useful  defenders  and  propagators  of  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints  as  the  world  has  ever  known.  This  fact  in 
192 


193 

the  history  of  our  Church,  so  general  and  persistent,  is  trace- 
able to  causes  that  have  powerfully  determined  the  convic- 
tions of  our  people  and  their  activities  in  reference  to  this  sub- 
ject. I  shall  call  your  attention  briefly  to  some  of  these 
causes.  One  is  found  in  that  view  which  the  Church  has  ever 
taken  of  the  relation,  that  it  is  the  will  of  the  Great  Head  of 
the  Church,  that  the  Church  and  the  children  should  sustain 
to  each  other.  We  can  trace  every  church  in  existence  back 
through  the  centuries  to  its  organization.  In  the  covenant 
that  was  made  with  Abraham,  he  was  received  and  his  chil- 
dren were  received  with  him,  and  they  had  as  distinct  a  place 
as  he  himself  held.  We  find  also  that  in  that  covenant  God 
promised  not  only  to  give  to  Abraham  the  land  of  Canaan  and 
a  numerous  posterity,  but  that  he  would  be  the  father  of  many 
nations,  and  that  he  would  be  his  God,  not  in  the  sense  of 
creator,  or  preserver,  or  redeemer,  but  in  the  sense  which  that 
promise  covenanted,  that  is,  that  he  should  be  the  God  of  the 
Church  to  be  organized  in  his  household,  the  God  of  his  chil- 
dren in  that  Church,  and  also  in  all  the  churches  that  should 
afterwards  come  into  relationship  with  that  Church  into  which 
he  and  his  household  were  brought.  And  he  gave,  further,  a 
perpetual  sign  of  the  existence  of  that  covenant  and  a  per- 
petual seal  accrediting  the  promises  in  that  covenant,  the  sacred 
rite  of  circumcision. 

Thus  the  Church  was  organized  and  continued  down  to  the 
beginning  of  the  new  dispensation,  and  children  continued  to 
be  in  it.  When  the  new  dispensation  began  we  have  no  evi- 
dence that  a  new  covenant  was  made,  or  that  a  new  organiza- 
tion was  formed.  On  the  contrary,  in  the  first  sermon  that 
was  preached  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  Peter  announced  to  the 
people  that  the  promise  was  unto  them  and  unto  their  chil- 
dren. We  find  that  the  Apostle  Paul  afterwards  entered  into 
argument  to  prove  that  the  covenant  was  still  in  force,  and 
from  that  fact  undertakes  to  demonstrate  the  call  of  the  gen- 
tiles, declaring  that  if  they  would  respond  to  the  call,  they 
would  thus  become  children  of  Abraham,  and  heirs  of  the 
promises  made  to  him.  There  is  a  great  cluster  of  facts  that 
show  that  this  covenant  was  still  in  force.  I  can  mention  only 
one  or  two.  One  is  in  the  fact  that  God  had  made  great 
promises  to  Abraham.  He  had  promised  to  make  him  a 
father  of  many  nations,  but  when  the  new  dispensation  began 
this  was  not  fulfilled,  and  consequently  the  covenant  was  still 
in  force,  and  the  Church,  to  which  the  covenant  was  given,  in 
existence.  But  God  in  that  covenant  made  promises  to  the 
Church  that  the  gentiles  should  come  into  it  as  doves  to  their 
windows,  sons  should  be  brought  in,  kings  should  be  nursing 
fathers  and  queens  nursing  mothers. 


194 

That  promise  was  not  fulfilled  when  the  new  dispensation 
began,  and  the  Church  was  consequently  still  in  existence. 
Where  is  there  evidence  that  when  the  new  dispensation 
began  the  children  were  put  out  of  the  Church,  or  denied  the 
privileges  and  blessings  of  the  Church  ?  We  are  sometimes 
called  on  to  quote  a  passage  of  Scripture  to  show  that  the 
children  were  put  into  the  Church  of  the  new  dispensation. 
Such  a  passage  is  not  necessary,  because  the  children  were 
already  in  the  Church.  It  would  be  a  much  more  pertinent 
question  to  ask  for  a  single  sentence  from  divine  authority 
that  teaches  us  that,  while  under  this  new  dispensation,  God 
has  greatly  enhanced  our  privileges  and  blessings  as  parents, 
he  has  at  the  same  time  not  only  not  enhanced  the  privileges 
and  blessings  of  our  children,  but  has  taken  away  every  privi- 
lege and  blessing  that  up  to  that  moment  they  were  enjoying. 
It  is  incredible  that  such  radical  change  should  take  place,  and 
not  a  line  written  about  it  in  God's  AVord.  If  the  Jews  at  the 
beginning  of  the  new  dispensation  had  been  informed  that 
their  children  were  not  any  longer  to  be  in  the  Church  would 
they  not  have  asked  some  questions  about  it  ?  The  Jews 
would  naturally  have  raised  objections  to  such  teaching,  but 
no  such  objection  appears.  The  lack  of  controversy  on  the 
subject  showed  that  the  children  remained  in  the  Church  as 
they  had  always  been. 

Another  reason  for  our  care  of  our  children  is  found  in  the 
fact  that  the  Scriptures  distinctly  teach  that  full  provision  is 
made  for  their  salvation  while  they  are  still  children.  If  I 
could  impress  this  single  truth  on  your  minds  at  this  time  my 
efforts  would  not  be  in  vain.  One  passage  in  God's  Word 
teaches  this  truth.  You  remember  that  the  people  brought 
their  children  to  the  Saviour  that  He  might  bless  them,  and 
that  He  said  to  the  disciples  who  objected  to  their  approach, 
"Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  Me  and  forbid  them  not; 
for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God."  He  then  took  them  up 
in  His  arms,  put  His  hands  upon  them,  and  blessed  them. 
They  were  so  small  He  took  them  from  the  arms  of  their  par- 
ents. In  one  of  the  accounts  the  reading  is  that  He  greatly 
blessed  them.  He  did  not  only  place  His  hand  on  them  and 
pronounce  a  blessing,  or  just  expressed  a  wish  that  they  might 
be  blessed,  but  He  actually  blessed  them.  Nor  was  it  a  mere 
prayer  for  a  blessing,  although  that  would  have  availed,  for 
"  Him  the  Father  heareth  always."  This  action  cannot  be 
explained  except  by  saying  that  He  there  bestowed  on  those 
children  the  saving  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

This  incident  teaches  us  that  while  our  children  are  too 
young  to  go  to  Christ  we  may  go  for  them,  our  faith  may  be 
accepted  for  them.     If  we  exercise  in  Him  a  like  faith  in 


195 

"behalf  of  our  children  we  will  inevitably  obtain  from  Him  the 
blessings  those  parents  obtained  for  their  children. 

Another  reason  why  we  believe  in  special  interest  in  the 
children  and  why  parents  should  be  characterized  by  fidelity 
in  this  respect  is  found  in  the  great  advantages  parents  have 
enjoyed  for  securing  those  blessings  and  the  training  of  them 
in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  Parents  stand  at 
the  fountain  head  and  have  opportunity  to  give  shape  and 
character  and  direction  to  the  earliest  thoughts  and  activities. 
Just  as  soon  as  children  begin  to  exercise  intelligence,  truth 
should.be  put  into  their  minds;  just  as  soon  as  they  begin  to 
fasten  on  hopes,  He,  who  is  chiefest  of  ten  thousand  and  alto- 
gether lovely,  should  be  recommended  to  them  ;  just  as  soon 
as  they  begin  to  make  judgments,  they  ought  to  be  enlisted  on 
the  side  of  truth  and  right  and  God  ;  just  as  soon  as  they  begin 
to  exercise  fear,  the  doom  and  the  woes  of  the  friendless  un- 
penitent should  be  presented.  Watchful  care  should  be  taken 
to  keep  them  in  these  channels  until  they  are  fixed  and  con- 
firmed in  moral  and  religious  habits.  The  earliest  impres- 
sions are  the  deepest  and  most  lasting.  If  we  were  to  go  into 
one  of  our  great  museums  we  might  see  on  stone  slabs  the 
imprint  of  raindrops,  which  geologists  tell  us  fell  on  them 
long  before  man  had  an  existence ;  footprints  of  birds  that 
walked  over  them  while  time  was  still  young.  The  explana- 
tion is  that  those  slabs  were  then  in  a  formative  state — merely 
soft  sediment,  on  which  light  objects  could  make  the  impres- 
sions which  we  now  see.  Afterwards  those  slabs  hardened 
into  solid  rock,  and  so  the  impressions  became  as  lasting  as 
the  rock  itself.  So  with  the  human  spirit.  In  childhood  the 
soul  is  in  a  plastic  condition  with  great  susceptibility  of  im- 
pression from  any  source,  good  or  bad.  As  the  years  pass  on 
under  the  influences  that  are  brought  to  bear  on  the  soul,  the 
impressions  are  indurated  and  become  as  enduring  as  the  im- 
mortal spirit.  If  those  impressions  are  for  evil,  it  will  re- 
quire the  Almighty  power  of  the  grace  of  God  to  efface 
them,  and  if  good,  it  will  require  the  same  grace  to  preserve 
them. 

Parents  have  therefore  in  youth  the  opportunity  of  making 
lasting  impressions  that  no  other  agency  can  produce  in  behalf 
of  right,  and  duty,  and  God.  Another  reason  for  our  in- 
terest in  the  youth  is  our  belief  that  the  Scriptures  teach  the 
duty  of  consecrating  our  children  to  God  in  a  covenant  well 
ordered  and  sure.  As  we  consecrate  our  time,  and  possessions, 
and  ourselves  to  God,  so  should  we  consecrate  our  children. 
God  never  asks  for  the  consecration  of  anything  that  Ue  will 
not  accept.  As  God  accepts  parents  He  accepts  their  children, 
and  as  He  accepts  the  parents  as  their  God  and  Saviour^  so  Ue 


196 

accepts  their  cliildren  as  their  God  and  Saviour.  He  is  obliged 
to  do  so,  unless  we  assume  that  God  requires  a  consecration 
and  then  refuses  to  receive  it.  The  seal  of  the  covenant  guar- 
antees that  the  consecrated  shall  be  accepted,  as  the  rainbow 
that  stretched  across  the  heavens  guaranteed  that  the  world 
should  not  again  be  destroyed  by  water.  So  the  sprinkling  of 
the  water  of  baptism  assures  parents  that  their  consecration  of 
their  children  shall  by  no  means  be  of  no  avail.  By  means 
like  these  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  every  age  of  the  world 
has  shown  its  interest  in  its  youth,  and  the  result  has  been  that 
Presbyterian  children  growing  to  manhood  and  womanhood 
have,  as  a  rule,  been  characterized  by  clearer,  stronger,  and 
more  settled  views  of  truth  than  the  children  of  any  other 
people  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  have  been  as  useful,  as 
earnest  and  as  persevering  propagators  of  the  truth  of  God's 
Word  as  the  world  bas  ever  seen. 


MEMORIES  AND  DUTIES. 


By  Rev.  William  P.  Breed,  D.D., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


BELOVED  Brethren  and  Fellow- Presbyterians:  —  Our 
delightful  memorial  festival  is  fast  nearing  its  close.  A 
few  hours  more  and  we  shall  have  crossed  the  threshold 
of  another  centennial  stadium.  It  need  not  be  said  that  the 
occasion  has  been  one  of  singular,  not  to  say  of  unique  interest, 
and  it  will  be  our  own  fault  if  it  prove  not  also  the  vehicle  of 
a  fresh  supply  of  spiritual  health  and  strength,  of  an  intensified 
Christian  and  Presbyterian  enthusiasm. 

This  day  of  solemn,  thrilling  memories,  of  fraternal  reunion, 
eye  looking  into  eye,  palm  touching  palm  in  brotherly  greet- 
ing, is  more  than  a  mere  isolated  fact ;  more  than  an  evanes- 
cent "  dance  "  of  mental  and  spiritual  "  minstrelsy."  The  long 
distant  past  is  in  it ;  the  far  distant  future  is  in  it.  It  is  a 
chamber  of  echoes  from  ages  long  agone,  a  many-voiced 
prophecy  of  ages  yet  to  come. 

In  human  life  and  experience  there  is  no  such  thing  as  isola- 
tion. Every  event  clasps  hands  with  every  other  event.  The 
whole  infinitely  varied  and  complicated  story  of  man  thus 
far  is  only  a  many-tongucd  echo  of  the  one  dire  event  that 
rent  earth  and  heaven  asunder,  and  sent  man  on  his  checkered, 
woeful  way  at  enmity  with  his  God !  Air,  ear,  life  everywhere 
resound  with  these  echoes;  the  echo  of  the  Deluge  roar  ;  the 
echo  of  the  great  World  Powers  as  they  rose  and  fell ;  the  old 
Assyrian  echo,  the  Medo-Persian,  the  Grecian,  the  Roman, 
and  the  multitudinous  echoes  of  modern  thought  and  action. 

In  the  religious  life  of  to-day  the  voice  of  Paul  is  heard, 
the  tread  of  Augustine,  the  shout  of  Luther,  Truth's  battle 
clang  in  a  hundred  fields  in  Germany,  France  and  the  Neth- 
erlands; in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland;  the  echoes  of  the 
guns  of  Seymour,  Howard  and  Drake,  as  just  three  hundred 
years  ago  they  splintered  the  sides  and  masts  and  tore  the  sails 
of  the  Invincible  Armada,  "  deciding,"  says  Froude,  "  the 
greatest  problem  ever  submitted  to  the  arbitrament  of  force, 


198 

determining  the  fate  of  the  Eeformation  in  Germany  and  com- 
pleting the  conversion  of  the  English  nation."  In  this  centen- 
nial celebration  we  are  compassed  about  with  a  great  cloud  of 
witnesses;  Luther  is  here,  Calvin  is  here,  the  Colignys  are 
here,  and  William  the  Silent  and  John  Knox  and  the  Mel- 
villes,  and  many  more  in  the  long  catalogue  of  worthies  of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy  1 

In  the  nearer  past  we  stand  face  to  face  with  our  First  Gen- 
eral Assembly.  Let  us  walk  down  Arch  street  to  Third,  pass 
the  chain  drawn  across  the  street  to  secure  the  worshipers 
within  against  disturbance  by  the  noise  without.  We  enter 
the  Third  street  door,  and  lo !  that  venerable  Assembly  sits 
before  us,  listening  to  one  of  the  foremost  preachers  and  theo- 
logians of  the  day.  Looking  to  our  right  over  the  high-backed 
pews,  we  see  the  lofty  pulpit  beneath  the  sounding  board. 
One  pew  in  front  of  the  pulpit  is  surmounted  with  a  canopy, 
supported  by  carved  columns  and  set  apart  for  the  use  of  the 
President  of  the  Republic  and  the  Governor  of  the  Common- 
wealth. In  the  pulpit  stands  the  preacher,  a  grave  man,  sixty- 
six  years  of  age,  a  man  of  genius,  a  ripe  scholar,  a  clear 
thinker,  a  powerful  reasoner,  and  in  doctrine  as  Calvinistic 
as  Calvin  himself 

This  great  man  is  no  snanger  in  Philadelphia.  His  voice 
has  been  heard  in  thrilling  accents  in  this  city  in  days  gone 
by.  Two  squares  south  of  where  he  now  stands  is  another 
brick  edifice,  within  whose  walls  a  few  years  before  sat  the 
sages  of  that  "  Declaration"  which  in  its  ultimate  consequences 
transmuted  the  loosely  joined  colonies  into  a  compact  Re- 
public. In  that  great  Assembly  there  was  just  one  clergyman, 
John  Witherspoon,  who  now  stands  before  us.  The  fate  of 
the  Declaration  was  trembling  in  the  balance.  Witherspoon 
rose  to  his  feet  and  said  in  solemn,  earnest  tones,  "  There  is  a 
tide  in  the  affairs  of  men.  We  perceive  it  now  before  us. 
To  hesitate  is  to  consent  to  our  own  slavery.  That  noble 
instrument  upon  your  table,  which  insures  immortality  to  its 
author,  should  be  subscribed  this  very  morning  by  every  pen 
in  this  house.  He  that  will  not  respond  to  its  accents  and 
strain  every  nerve  to  carry  into  effect  its  provisions  is  unworthy 
of  the  name  of  freeman." 

This  eloquent  outburst  of  patriotic  fervor,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe,  bore  with  telling  effect  upon  the  fate  of  the 
Declaration,  which  was  passed  two  days  after,  settling  at  once 
the  momentous  question  of  the  nation's  independence. 

Onward  thence  the  tide  of  thought  bears  us,  through  years 
of  dearth  and  discouragement,  through  periods  of  Pentecostal 
revival,  through  storm  and  calm,  struggles  between  men  of 
massive  intellect,  of  glowing  eloquence,  of  acute  dialectic  skill, 


199 

of  profound  acquaintance  witli  recorded  thought,  men  of  life- 
blood  earnestness,  of  flaming  zeal  for  the  truth,  struggles  in 
which  we  see  the  forms  and  hear  the  voices  of  the  Tennents, 
of  Eodgers,  of  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  of  John  Blair  Smith, 
of  Duffield,  Ashbel  Green,  the  Alexanders,  the  Hodges,  Samuel 
Miller,  the  Breckenridges,  William  Adams,  Musgrave,  Junkin, 
Barnes,  Boardman,  Hitchcock  and  many,  many  more,  illus- 
trating and  confirming  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Curry,  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  "  We  concede  to  the  Calvinistic  churches 
the  honor  of  having  all  along  directed  the  best  thinking  of  the 
country  ;"  and  the  testimony  of  James  Russell  Lowell  on  Cal- 
vinism, "Its  doctrines  have  produced  some  of  the  strongest  and 
noblest  characters  the  world  has  ever  seen,  the  very  fibre  and 
substance  of  which  commonwealths  are  made." 

From  Reminiscences  we  turn  to  confronting  Duties.  First, 
to  the  duties  that  await  us  as  a  Christian   Church. 

The  obvious  Diity  of  Aggression : 

The  doors  of  all  the  world  stand  open  before  us,  and  in  our 
ears  the  old  command,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature^''  Political  barriers  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Gospel  are  very  few  and  very  far  between.  Time 
was  when  a  potent  Director  of  the  East  India  Company 
declared  that  he  had  rather  see  fifty  devils  in  India  than  fifty 
missionaries.  The  same  ship  that  bore  Ziegenbalg  from 
Copenhagen  to  Tranquebar,  carried  also  secret  instructions  to 
the  Governor  to  lay  every  obstacle  in  the  missionary's  way, 
and  surround  him  with  all  practicable  impediments.  But  in 
our  day  such  things  are  things  of  the  past. 

And  now  almost  every  human  being  is  our  next-door  neigh- 
bor. Under  the  guidaace  of  God,  the  splendid  triumphs  of 
the  intellect  of  man  have  laid  the  whole  heathen  world  on  the 
door-step  of  the  Christian  Church. 

And  the  Duty  of  Defense: 

The  old  enemy  has  lost  none  of  his  cunning,  none  of  his 
malice,  none  of  his  energy.  The  Devil  is  come  down  unto  you, 
having  great  wrath  because  he  knoweth  that  he  hath  but  a 
short  time. 

For  long  now  the  current  of  thought  has  set  strongly  in  for 
the  cold,  cheerless  shores  of  Unbelief.  The  grim  divinities  of 
Doubt  and  Denial,  exhumed  for  the  thousandth  time,  are  set 
again  upon  their  pedestals,  and  the  whole  world  is  bidden  to 
fall  down  and  do  them  homage.  "  We  seem  to  be  slowly  com- 
ing round  through  the  sublime  by-ways  of  intellectual  superi- 
ority and  sentimental  faith,  to  the  old,  mean  era  of  caviling 
and  criticism,  the  age  that  finds  humbug  in  every  thing,  the 
puny,  debased,  narrow  age  of  unbelief."  And  the  duty  con- 
fronts us,  in  the  midst  of  all  this,  the  enemy  coming  in  like  a 


200 

flood  to  rally  in  company  witli  our  fellow- Christians  of  other 
names,  and  with  renewed  ardor  round  the  Christian  Gonfalon, 
and  plant  it  on  every  hill- top,  on  every  tower,  on  every  hu- 
man home! 

Duties  await  us  also  as  Americaii  Christians : 

Ancient  history  furnishing  examples  of  two  classes  of 
nations;  those  which,  being  destitute  of  the  true  religion, 
have  assailed  it  in  other  nations,  and  those  which,  having  had 
it  in  possession,  have  become  apostate. 

The  doom  of  the  former  is  written  by  the  pen  of  Moses:  "I 
will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  I  will  curse  him  that 
curseth  thee."  And  the  Prophet,  Ezekiel,  25 :  12-13,  records 
an  instance  of  the  outcarrying  of  the  threat  upon  the  oSender, 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  because  that  Edom  hath  dealt 
against  the  house  of  Judah  by  taking  vengeance,  and  hath 
greatly  offended,  therefore,  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  will  also 
stretch  out  my  hand  upon  Edom,  and  I  will  cut  off  man  and 
beast  from  it,  and  I  will  make  it  desolate  from  Teman,  and 
they  of  Dedan  shall  fall  by  the  sword."  Under  the  same  doom 
Nineveh,  the  foe  of  Israel,  and  Babylon,  the  foe  of  Judah, 
were  ground  to  powder! 

But  it  fares  still  worse  with  apostate  nations.  "When  the 
unclean  spirit  once  expelled  returns  again,  the  last  state  is 
worse  thau  the  first.  "  So,"  said  Jesus,  "  shall  it  be  with  this 
generation,"  and  so  was  it  with  that  generation  ;  for  under  the 
whole  heaven  hath  not  been  done  as  hath  been  done  upon 
Jerusalem. 

But  our  country  must  take  rank,  if  with  either  of  these 
classes,  with  the  apostate.  Our  Government  has  never  been 
the  assailant  of  religion.  The  smoke  of  no  martyr  fire  has 
ever  risen  between  the  eye  and  the  white  and  crimson,  the 
stars  and  stripes  of  the  national  banner.  On  the  contrary,  our 
nation  has  been,  from  the  first,  a  Christian  nation.  The  first 
sound  the  wolves  and  Indians  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  white 
man  on  our  New  England  shores  were  the  sounds  of  prayer 
and  praise  to  the  Triune  Jehovah.  From  the  beginning  until 
now,  the  name  of  Jesus  has  been  invoked  in  our  National  Con- 
gress, and  in  our  great  political  conventions.  Appeal  has 
gone  up  to  the  Christian's  God  on  the  field  of  battle  before  the 
conflict,  and  in  thanksgiving  after  the  victory.  Our  legisla- 
tion, in  so  far  as  it  has  borne  upon  religion,  has  been  Christian 
in  its  character.  High  authority  has  repeatedly  declared  that 
Christianity  is  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  the  land.  The 
Sabbath  is  distinctly  recognized,  and  year  by  year  a  day  of 
devout  thankgiving  to  God  has  been  proclaimed  by  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  nation.  Under  the  shadow  of  the  national 
flag,  Gospel  institutions  have  sprung  up  like  willows  by  the 


201 

water  courses.  Church  edifices  dot  the  land  from  limit  to 
limit.  Christian  missionaries  from  our  shores  have  played  the 
hero  and  the  martyr  in  many  a  heathen  land.  The  ISabbath 
sun,  as  he  moves  in  majesty  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 
over  this  great  sisterhood  of  commonwealths,  fixes  his  golden 
eye  upon  more  than  twelve  million  communicants  in  evangel- 
ical churches,  and  sees  an  equal  nnmber  of  children  grouped 
around  more  than  twelve  hundred  thousand  Sabbath-school 
teachers.  Bible  societies,  tract  societies,  colporteur  agencies 
and  other  societies,  Christian  and  beneficent,  supported  by  an 
annual  voluntary  outlay  for  all  religious  purpo.^es,  of  nearly 
one  hundred  million  dollars  make  up  together  a  world  of  hal- 
lowed activities  that  set  the  seal  of  Christianity  broad  and 
deep  upon  the  very  life  of  the  republic,  and  make  it  impossi- 
ble thenceforth  for  it  to  be  other  than  permanently  Christian 
or  basely  apostate.  The  only  alternative  left  is  either  with 
hands  at  once  ungrateful  and  impious  to  tear  up  the  deep- 
rooted  cross  and  cast  it  into  the  sea  and  thereby  hang  a  mill- 
stone to  the  neck  of  the  nation,  or  to  go  forward,  ploughing 
and  planting,  harrowing  and  weeding,  until  at  the  name  of 
Jesus  the  whole  aggregate  Republic  shall  bow  the  head  and 
bend  the  knee  in  heartfelt  devotion ! 

"While  Alexander"  was  thundering  at  the  gates  of  Tyre,  the 
terrified  inhabitants,  suspecting  that  Apollo,  their  god,  was 
about  to  forsake  them,  assembled  in  the  public  square,  and 
with  chains  fastened  his  statue  to  the  pedestal.  The  folly  of 
the  heathen  may  teach  us  wisdom.  We  must  secure  the  per- 
manent dwelling  of  Immanuel  in  the  midst  of  us,  or  as  a 
nation  we  are  lost  I  We  must  bind  Him  to  our  national  life, 
not  with  chains  of  iron,  but  with  the  cords  ol  love,  with  the 
bands  of  a  man  for  evermore ! 

A  Duty  great  and  grave  lies  before  us  as  Protestant 
Christians. 

When  God  by  the  hand  of  Columbus  drew  aside  the  cur- 
tain, and  disclosed  this  continent  to  the  modern  eye,  nothing 
was  more  improbable  than  that  these  territories,  now  paved 
with  this  mosaic  of  republics,  should  become  the  heritage  of  a 
Protestant  people,  Henry  VII  was  on  the  throne  of  England 
with  seventeen  years  of  life  and  rule  yet  before  him.  A  full 
quarter  of  a  century  must  elapse  ere  the  trump  of  Luther 
should  wake  the  dead.  In  the  mind  of  Columbus,  the  one 
ruling  idea  was  to  add  another  province  to  the  empire  of  the 
Papacy.  And  during  three-fourths  of  his  voyage  he  kept  the 
prow  of  the  Santa  Maria  pointed  straight  toward  the  heart  of 
this  land.  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon,  commander  of  the  Pinta, 
advised  and  urged  Columbus  to  change  his  course  and  head 
for  the  south-west;    Columbus  declined  the  advice.      Pinzon 


202 

remonstrated,  Columbus  persisted.  Pinzon  exclaimed:  "It 
seems  to  me  an  inspiration;  my  heart  dictates  to  me  that  we 
ouo-ht  to  steer  in  a  different  direction."  In  vain.  At  last 
God  sent  a  flock  of  birds  athwart  the  bows  of  the  little  fleet, 
and  the  birds  won!  The  course  of  the  vessels  was  changed, 
and  in  this  discovery  a  little  island  took  the  place  of  the  great 
continent! 

The  celebrated  Alexander  von  Ilumboldt  writesinthe  "Cos- 
mos," "  We  must  here  pause  to  consider  the  wonderful  concate- 
nation of  trivial  circumstances  which  undeniably  exercised  an 
influence  on  the  course  of  the  world's  destiny.  Washington 
Irving  has  justly  observed  that  if  Columbus  had  resisted  the 
counsel  of  Pinzon,  and  continued  to  steer  westward,  he  would 
have  entered  the  Gulf  Stream  and  been  borne  to  Florida  and 
thence  probably  to  Cape  Hatteras  and  Virginia ;  a  circumstance 
of  incalculable  importance,  since  it  might  have  been  the  means 
of  giving  to  the  United  States  a  Catholic  Spanish  population 
instead  of  the  Protestant  English  one,  by  which  the  regions 
were  subsequently  colonized."  And  what  that  means,  read  in 
the  condition  past  and  present  of  those  portions  of  North  and 
South  America  actually  occupied  by  that  and  a  kindred  papal 
power!  "Never,"  continues  Humboldt,  "has  the  flight  of 
birds  been  attended  with  more  important  results !  It  may  even 
be  said  that  it  decided  the  first  colonization  in  the  new  Conti- 
nent and  the  original  distribution  of  the  Eoman  and  Germanic 
races  of  men." 

Nevertheless,  Eome  through  her  faithful  vassal,  Spain, 
pushed  northward,  took  possession  of  the  coast  of  Florida  and 
for  a  time  the  Florida  of  her  claims  reached  from  Cape  Sable 
to  Newfoundland !  From  the  latitude  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  the 
line  ran  westward  to  the  Mississippi  and  be3^ond,  taking  in  all 
that  we  now  call  Louisiana.  On  the  Pacific  coast  all  was  hers, 
from  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  Prince  Williams  Sound. 

Through  France,  Rome  held  Canada  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  But  in  the  year  1759  Rome  met  her 
Waterloo  on  the  Hights  of  Abraham,  and  all  that  sweep  of 
territory  passed  into  the  hands  of  Protestantism.  In  due  time 
the  claims  of  Spain  East  and  West  vanished  into  thin  air,  and 
Protestantism,  in  the  persons  of  the  Pilgrims  of  New  England, 
the  Dutch  of  New  York,  the  Swedes  of  Delaware,  the  Eng- 
lish of  Virginia  and  the  Huguenots  farther  South  held  the 
land.  Thus,  as  by  visible  act  of  God,  this  whole  magnificent 
domain  was  wrenched  from  the  hands  of  Rome  and  given 
over  forever  to  the  children  of  the  Reformation! 

And  before  us  now  as  Protestant  Christians  lies  the  plain, 
imperative,  vital  duty,  while  with  all  our  hearts  conceding  to 
our  Roman  Catholic  neighbors  all  their  rights  and  privileges, 


203 

civil  and  religious,  as  citizens,  jet  to  see  to  it  that  the  Vatican 
octopus,  with  its  Bible-burnings,  its  cruel  intolerance,  its 
hatred  of  our  public  schools,  its  declarations  in  Encyclical  and 
Syllabus  "  that  the  Pope  and  priests  ought  to  have  dominion 
in  temporal  affairs,"  that  the  principle  that  "  the  Church  has 
not  power  to  avail  itself  of  force,"  and  the  principle  that  "the 
Roman  religion  shall  not  be  held  as  the  only  religion  of  the 
State  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others  are  most  mischievous  and 
pernicious  errors,"  to  see  to  it,  we  say,  that  this  hierarchy  shall 
never  acquire  and  hold  dominion  in  this  Eepublic ! 

Therefore  we  must  insist  that  the  public  school  shall 
nestle  in  every  nook;  that  in  it  the  Word  of  God  with  its 
pure  and  unique  morality  shall  be  read  day  by  day  ;  copies  of 
this  holy  Word  must  be  multiplied  and  placed  in  every  hand, 
and  there  must  be  a  sparing  of  no  pains,  no  labor,  no  expense, 
for  the  conversion  of  the  children  of  the  papacy  to  the  light, 
liberty  and  purity  of  the  Gospel ! 

Duties  await  us  also  as  Presbyterian  Christians. 

As  voiced  by  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  the  Presbyterian  system 
denies  that  all  Church  power  vests  in  the  clergy  ;  denies  that 
the  apostolic  office  is  perpetual  and  denies  that  each  indi- 
vidual Church  is  independent.  It  affirms  that  the  people  have 
a  right  to  a  substantive  part  in  the  government  of  the  Church  ; 
that  presbyters  who  minister  in  word  and  doctrine  are  the 
highest  permanent  officers  in  the  Church,  and  that  the  visible 
Church  is,  or  should  be,  one  in  the  sense  that  a  smaller  part  is 
subject  to  a  larger,  and  a  larger  to  the  whole.  The  core  of 
this  system  is  the  eldership ;  the  whole  eldership  the  organ  for 
the  exercise  of  the  power  of  the  Church;  a  portion  specially 
ordained  to  discharge  the  duties  of  pulpit  and  pastorate ;  as 
rulers  all  elders  on  a  footing  of  perfect  equality ;  preachers 
and  pastors  all  standing  upon  the  same  high  level  of  dignity 
and  authority,  and  the  whole  Church  compacted  into  unity 
by  a  system  of  courts — lower,  higher,  highest.  Of  this  sys- 
tem, Henderson,  member  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  said, 
"  Here  is  superiority  without  tyranny,  parity  without  confusion, 
subjection  without  slavery."  Of  this  system  the  Eoman 
Catholic  Archbishop  Hughes  said,  "  It  acts  on  the  principle  of 
a  radiating  centre,  and  is  without  equal  or  rival  among  the 
other  denominations  of  the  country." 

Our  sister  evangelical  denominations  we  bid  a  hearty  God- 
speed. There  is  room  for  all  and  Avork  for  all.  But  who 
will  chide  us  for  entertaining  the  conviction  that  a  peculiar 
duty  awaits  a  Church  like  ours  in  a  land  like  ours;  a  Church 
between  whose  form  of  government  and  that  of  the  nation 
analogies  so  many  and  so  striking  exist,  both  embracing  in 
felicitous  counterpoise  the  right  and  privilege  of  free  thought 


204 

and  private  judgment  on  the  one  hand,  witli  the  predom.- • 
nance  of  an  ultimate  and  venerable  authority  on  the  other ;  a 
Church  historically  and  notoriously  not  one  whit  more  repub- 
lican in  the  form  of  its  government  than  it  is  in  its  spirit  and 
tendencies ;  a  Church  that  has,  therefore,  always  been  an  ob- 
ject of  peculiar  and  cordial  hatred  to  despots  secular  and 
spiritual;  a  Church  ever  the  champion  of  education ;  a  Church 
embracing  in  such  proportions  talent,  learning,  character, 
Christian  zeal  and  piety;  before  such  a  Church,  we  say,  there 
lies  a  peculiar  duty,  and  well  will  it  be  for  her  and  for  the 
world  if  her  members  prove  themselves  true  children  of 
Issachar,  that  have  understanding  of  the  times  to  know  Avhat 
Israel  ought  to  do. 

Before  this  Church  lies  the  duty  of  demonstrating  a  superior 
efficiency  in  spreading  the  Gospel  among  men,  in  subduing 
sinners,  in  maturing  all  the  rich  fruit  of  the  spirit,  "  love,  joy, 
peace,  long  suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 
temperance."     Amen! 

In  conclusion:  Out  of  these  fervors  of  fraternal  greeting  it 
is  with  a  half  tim.id  heart  we  send  our  thoughts  onward  over 
the  expanse  of  a  coming  hundred  years  of  cradles,  tossing 
activities  and  of  graves  toward  the  two  hundredth  meeting  of 
this  General  Assembly.  Out  of  the  noise  and  bustle  and 
swirl  of  sixty  million  panting  lives,  with  their  sweet  chorus 
of  manifold  charities,  the  footfall  of  beavitiful  feet  upon  the 
mountains  bringing  good  tidings  and  publishing  peace,  bring- 
ing good  tidings  of  good  and  publishing  salvation,  and  ming- 
ling with  these  the  hoarse,  harsh  cries  ot  atheist  and  an- 
archist, the  clash  of  conflict  with  sin  and  vice,  with  the  im- 
perious and  cruel  saloon,  the  stench  of  Mormouism,  and 
withal  the  still  hunt  of  the  Jesuitic  Papacy — it  is,  we  say, 
with  shrinking  heart  and  half  timid  eye  that  out  of  the  midst 
of  all  this  we  look  forward  into  and  through  the  noise  and 
bustle  and  swirl  of  the  oncoming  century,  with  its  rush  of 
progress,  its  masterful  subjection  and  varied  applications  of 
the  forces  of  nature  to  the  uses  of  man,  that  will  be  to  those  of 
the  present  as  the  oak  to  the  acorn,  as  the  Ganges  emptying 
its  gathered  flood  into  the  sea,  to  the  Ganges  at  its  infant 
spring-head,  its  stupendous  political  changes,  its  currents  and 
cross-currents  of  thought,  feeling  and  action,  its  harmonious 
blendings  of  cooperating  agencies  and  its  fierce  collisions  of 
contending  forces. 

To  this  one  hundredth  General  Assembly  the  members 
have  threaded  their  way  through  a  throng  of  sixty  millions  of 
people,  and  it  startles  us  to  think  that  to  that  two  hundredth 
General  Assembly  the  members  will  have  to  crush  their  way 
through  the  seething  masses  of  more  than  four  hundred  and 


205 

fifty  millions  of  people.  The  two  Assemblies  blended  on  this 
centennial  day  represent  two  great  Presbyterian  bodies.  Why 
need  we  doubt  that  the  Two  Hundredth  Assembly  will  repre- 
sent the  combined  Presby  terianism  of  the  liepublic  ?  If  one 
Congress  can  stand  and  act  for  sixty  million  citizens,  why  may 
not  one  General  Assembly  stand  and  act  for  sixty  million 
Presbyterians? 

Let  us  be  thankful,  brethren,  that  the  character  and  fate  of 
that  stupendous  future  that  now  confronts  our  thoughts  lies  in 
other  bands  than  ours;  that  our  responsibilities  will  have  been 
met  and  our  duties  will  have  been  discharged,  when  into  the 
custody  of  that  future  we  shall  have  passed  this  present,  not 
only  unbetrayed,  undamaged,  uncrippled,  but  nerved  up  to  a 
higher  and  holier  tension,  fervid,  with  a  warmer  zeal,  purposes 
more  rigorously  girded,  momentum  harder  to  be  resisted,  and 
all  baptized  with  tears  of  gratitude,  enveloped  in  clouds  of 
prayer  and  sanctified  by  a  consecration  higher  and  more  en- 
tire.   Amen  and  Amen ! 


CLOSING    ADDRESS 


By  Rev.  Jerry  Witherspoon,  D.D., 
Nashville,   Tenn. 


THE  commemorative,  or  monumental  spirit,  has  of  late  pos- 
sessed our  American  people.  As  a  sort  of  contagion,  it 
spreads.  It  prevails  in  the  circles  of  literary,  political, 
military  and  artistic  life.  The  influence,  entirely  wholesome,  as 
we  believe,  invades  the  Church  and  prompts  to  a  commemora- 
tive recognition  of  achievement  that  is  thought  worthy  of  it. 
Within  the  latter  half  of  this  century,  stones  have  been  piled, 
marble  chipped  and  bronze  moulded  to  embody  popular 
applause  of  civic  virtue,  warlike  genius  and  pure  patriotism. 
It  is  no  waste  of  time  or  money  to  perpetuate,  by  suitable 
memorials  of  stone  or  brass,  the  influence  of  lives  that  were 
good  and  great.  Without  inspiration  from  the  past,  it  is  barely 
possible  for  nations  or  men  to  touch,  in  character  or  achieve- 
ment, the  level  they  might  otherwise  reach.  What  is  comes 
largely  from  what  was.  Tiie  spirit  of  yesterday  lives  and 
moves  in  to-day.  The  tree  that  gives  the  birds  a  f^helter  in  its 
boughs,  or  the  animal  a  place  of  repose  in  its  shade,  is  the  out- 
come of  a  tiny  plant  that  slumbered  in  the  seed.  When  we 
have  reckoned  j  ustly  our  debt  to  the  past,  we  are  prepared  to 
serve  our  generation  best  and  pay  to  the  future  what  we  owe. 
The  services  of  many  patriotic  citizens  of  our  land  in  the 
past  few  decades  have  been  commemorated,  A  monument  to 
our  first  President  and  the  leader  of  the  colonial  struggle  has 
risen  to  catch  the  sun's  earliest  ray  and  reflect  his  parting 
glow. 

Above  the  tomb  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  at  Springfield,  has 
been  placed  a  popular  testimonial  to  his  gifts  and  services  as 
one  of  those  illustrious  men  who  preceded  and  succeeded  him 
in  the  presidential  chair.  From  the  eastern  porch  of  the  Ten- 
nessee Capitol,  the  visitor  sees  an  equestrian  statue  of  the  Sage 
of  the  Hermitage  and  the  hero  of  New  Orleans — Andrew 
Jackson.  People  from  all  sections  of  our  land  view  admir- 
ingly that  massive  tribute  to  a  man  who  had  Presbyterian 
faith  in  his  heart  and  Presbyterian  blood  in  his  veins — a.  man 
of  steel,  "  self-poised,"  as  one  who  has  gracefully  said,  "  like 
the  magnificent  bronze  charger  on  which  the  sculptor  has 
placed  him,  to  ride  through  the  future  ages!"  Memorials  to 
civil,  literary  and  military  success  spring  around  us.  Let 
them  stand.     To  the  m.emory  of  men  like  Thomas  and  Lee, 


207 

Garfield   and  Stonewall  Jackson,  commemorative  honor  has 
been  paid. 

The  contagious  spirit  of  momimentali^m,  coining  a  word  for 
the  occasion,  is  suffering  no  decline.  I  would  erect  no  quar- 
antine against  its  spread.  Its  prevalence  should  be  ■v\'elcomed, 
elevating  as  it  is  to  national  life  and  stimulating  to  American 
plastic  art. 

To  know  how  the  stone  and  bronze  fever  rages,  you  have 
only  to  note  the  anniversary  celebrations  reported  in  the  pub- 
lic prints ;  listen  to  the  harangue  of  the  centennial  orator,  who 
is  truly  abroad  in  the  land ;  estimate  the  cost  of  shafts  and 
statues  being  ordered  from  jubilant  sculptors  and  stonemasons 
over  the  land;  see  how  public  building,  park,  college  campus 
and  battle-field,  are  filling  up  with  costly  memorials  to  success 
in  letters,  politics  or  war,  and  consider  the  sums  of  money  now 
appropriated  by  legislatures  like  that  of  New  York  and  other 
States,  to  honor  the  valor  of  fallen  sons.  It  is  estimated  that 
four  hundred  thousand  dollars  are  available,  by  legislative 
enactment,  for  purposes  like  this. 

Brethren  and  friends,  the  proceedings  of  this  day,  provided 
for  under  the  action  of  the  Omaha  and  St.  Louis  Assemblies, 
remind  us  that  dignified,  conservative  Presbyterianism  has 
yielded  to  the  tendency  of  the  times  and  has  become  the  vic- 
tim of  the  memorial  contagion. 

We  propose  rearing  no  pillar  like  that  raised  to  honor 
Washington.  We  have  no  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  to 
lay  out  in  shafts  for  the  graves  of  men  like  Francis  McKemie, 
Matthew  Hill,  William  Tennant,  Jedediah  Andrews,  Nathan- 
iel Taylor,  Samuel  Davis  and  Alexander  Craighead.  Passing 
the  first  centennial  mile-stone  on  the  march  of  organized 
American  Presbyterianism,  we  shall  not  imitate  Israel  by 
rearing  an  altar  of  stones  to  show  our  debt  to  a  glorious  past 
that  pours  its  inspiration  into  the  soul  of  every  true  Presbyte- 
rian to-day,  and  by  its  fragrance  of  divine  goodness  to  our 
American  Church  for  a  hundred  years,  invites  us  to  a  grateful 
consecration  at  this  hour.  While  it  is  true  that  in  this  historic 
city,  the  cradle  of  constitutional  liberty  and  the  birthplace  of 
organized  Presbyterianism,  we  shall  lay  no  stone,  nor  conse- 
crate a  bit  of  bronze  to  the  sacred  uses  of  commemoration, 
yet  that  these  exercises  are  preeminently  proper  for  a  Church 
with  a  history  like  ours  and  that  they  will,  under  God's  bless- 
ing, leave  their  impress  for  good,  there  is  no  ground  for  doubt. 
If  we  turn  our  steps  homeward,  with  our  blood  quickened  by 
the  memories  of  the  past;  our  hearts  humbled  before  God  by  the 
thought  of  His  goodness  and  our  unfaithfulness  ;  our  fraternal 
sympathies  intensified;  our  e3^es  opened  to  the  possibilities  of 
growth  and  activity  before  our  Church  in  this  laud  and  in  the 


208 

outlying  fields  of  foreign  missionary  effort  and  with  the  con- 
viction increased,  that  the  doctrines  of  our  standards  are  as 
worthy  of  credence  and  industrious  promulgation  to-day,  as 
when  Andrews  preached  them  in  the  "  Barbadoes  Warehouse," 
James  Anderson  advocated  them  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson, 
Josias  Makie  heralded  them  beside  the  Elizabeth  river,  or 
Charles  Cummings  proclaimed  them  where  the  Watauga  and 
Holston  join  their  currents  with  the  curving  Tennessee,  this 
meeting  of  our  Presbyterian  clans  in  1888  will  have  met  the 
purpose  of  its  projection  a  year  ago,  and  left  a  blessing  on  our 
Church  whose  fruit  shall  be  gathered  in  the  years  to  come. 

From  the  doings  of  this  centennial  day,  if  God  but  add  His 
blessing,  good  results  must  needs  follow.  The  retrospect 
prompted  by  the  celebration  will,  1,  Aivaken  and  sustain  a 
sense  of  dependence  upon  the  God  of  our  fathers.  At  Kadesh- 
barnea,  Moses,  the  man  of  God,  exhorted  the  tribes  to  review 
of  their  course  from  Horeb  to  where  they  stood  with  the 
goodly  land  before  them.  The  divine  presence  had  attended 
them  along  the  way.  But  for  His  care  they  would  not  have 
survived  the  march,  and  without  His  intervention  the  land 
could  not  be  possessed,  God  sent  these  wandering  people 
bread  from  the  heavens,  water  from  the  rock  and  preserved 
the  shoes  and  garments  they  wore  while  pillars  of  cloud  and 
fire  bespoke  His  presence  and  pointed  them  the  way  to  Canaan. 
Against  the  enemies  waiting  to  dispute  their  possession  of  the 
land  they  would  be  as  incapable  of  contending  without  His 
help  as  they  were  dependent  on  His  bounty  in  the  wilder- 
ness. The  whole  situation,  with  its  retrospect  and  prospect, 
was  enough  to  teach  humility  and  throw  them  upon  God  in 
an  implicit  trust.  Under  the  date  of  1723,  George  Gillespie, 
of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  writes  to  a  brother  in  Scotland 
thus :  "  It  would  appear  that  our  glorious  Christ  hath  great 
designs  in  America  ;  though  I  am  afraid  not  to  be  effectuated 
in  my  day,"  Saj^s  he,  "There  are  not  above  thirty  ministers 
and  probationer  preachers  in  our  Synod,"  In  1788,  when  the 
Synod  resolved  to  organize  the  General  Assembly,  the  sixteen 
Presbyteries  that  were  to  form  that  Assembly  over  which  John 
Rodgers  was  called  to  preside  and  to  which  John  Witherspoon 
preached  the  opening  sermon,  consisted  of  177  ministers,  111 
probationers  and  419  churches.  A  year  later  the  churches 
had  increased  to  432,  with  a  membership  of  18,000,  contribu- 
ting to  mission  causes  eight  hundred  and  fifty-two  dollars. 
When  we  compare  the  present  with  the  past  we  feel  that  God 
has  helped  us  and  given  enlargement  to  our  Zion;  that  the 
pioneers  struggled  on  against  discouragement,  like  Caldwell,  of 
Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey;  McWhorter,  of  Knox's  brigade  ; 
Adam  Boyd,  Daniel  McCalla  and  George  Duffield  ;  that  the 


209 

handful  of  corn  on  the  tops  of  the  mountain  grew  on,  until  to- 
day the  18,000  have  come  to  be  almost  a  mil  Hon,  we  must  give 
the  praise  to  our  Coven  ant- Keeping  God.  Extend  jour  view 
eightj-two  years  back  of  1788  and  you  see  a  still  more  in- 
considerable beginning  of  things.  We  are  more  than  ever 
convinced  that  the  God  whose  presence  with  Israel  was  sym- 
bolized in  the  guiding  pillar  of  cloud,  whose  blessing  on  Gideon 
made  300  with  their  pitchers  rout  Midian  on  the  field  and 
who  helped  Elijah  to  a  splendid  victory  on  Carmel,  has  piloted 
American  Presbyterianism  through  the  perils  of  a  century 
and  has  rendered  all  its  efforts  towards  aggression  and  defense 
successful.  Eighty- two  years  back  of  the  first  Assembly  we 
see  a  Presbytery  with  seven  ministers:  Andrews,  Taylor, 
Wilson,  Davis  and  McKemie,  with  two  Scotch  missionaries 
lately  arrived.  This  was  the  handful  of  corn,  the  fruit  of 
which  is  shaking  to-day.  This  is  the  bush  that  has  grown 
into  the  tree  under  whose  boughs  we  rest  to-day,  after  a  hun- 
dred and  eighty  years  of  growth.  It  was  fitting,  in  view  of 
the  hardships  attending  the  founding  of  our  Church  in  the 
New  World,  and  the  difficulties  to  be  met  in  its  extension, 
that  the  text /or  the  opening  sermon  at  the  first  Assembly 
should  have  been  II  Cor.  3 :  7,  teaching  that  man  is  insuffi- 
cient^ but  God  is  all-sufl&cient.  "  So  that  neither  is  he  that 
planteth  any  thing,  neither  he  that  watereth :  but  God  that  giveth 
the  increaseJ^ 

2.  The  observance  of  this  day  should  move  our  Church, 
North  and  South,  to  embrace  as  well  as  measure  her  opportuni- 
ties in  this  land  and  others.  Our  ears  must  indeed  be  heavy 
if  out  of  that  past  we  honor  to-day  there  is  not  heard  a  voice 
to  quicken  our  steps  in  the  march  of  progress.  Ours  is  called 
the  "Seeculum  Evangelicum" — the  age  of  evangelism.  The 
Church  should  assume  more  and  more  the  attitude  of  aggres- 
sion. We  have  been  on  the  defensive  long  enough.  Propa- 
gation of  the  truth,  rather  than  further  sharpening  of  its 
definitions,  is  the  demand  of  the  hour.  We  have  been  deter- 
mining the  King's  Crown  rights ;  let  us  go  and  win  them  as 
He  bids  us.  We  have  been  whetting  the  sword  and  judging 
of  its  temper,  let  us  go  and  use  it.  Missionary  triumph  is  the 
wonder  of  our  age — 

"  We  are  living,  we  are  dwelling, 
In  a  grand  and  awful  time, 
In  an  age  on  ages  telling, 
To  be  living  is  sublime." 

The  talk  of  forming  a  language  for  the  whole  world  to  use 
may  be  a  random  prophecy  of  a  day  when  the  race  evange- 
lized shall  employ  the  language  of  Heaven.  The  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  !  The  very  name  should 
inspire   zeal.     The   Tarshish  seamen  asked  Jonah,  "  Whence 


210 

comest  thou ;  what  is  thy  country  ?  "  To  us  this  same  question 
comes.  Others  have  told  us  to-day  what  a  door  is  opea  to  us 
and  how  our  responsibihties  bear  proportion  to  our  opportu- 
nities in  all  their  amplitude.  In  America  is  to  be  solved  the 
problem  of  the  world's  civilization.  What  imagination  can 
compass,  what  tongue  portray  the  future  of  this  land  ? 

"  A  glorious  land , 
With  broad  arms  stretched  from  shore  to  shore, 

The  proud  Pacific  chafes  her  strand, 
She  hears  the  loud  Atlantic's  roar  ; 

And  nurtured  in  her  ample  breast, 
How  many  a  goodl}'  prospect  lies, 

In  nature's  wildest  grandeur  drest, 
Enameled  with  her  loveliest  dyes." 

To-day  the  centre  of  population  is  moving  westward,  and 
the  child  is  born  that  will  hear  the  hum  of  two  hundred 
millions  of  people  in  our  country.  Shall  these  coming  mul- 
titudes be  Christianized?  The  answer  depends  in  part  upon 
the  Church  whose  centennial  has  been  celebrated  to-day.  God 
has  put  the  land  before  us ;  let  us  go  over  and  possess  it. 

3.  Ere  I  close  let  me  say,  the  celebration  will  have  in  part 
failed  if  it  does  not  deepen  our  love  for  our  Church.  Our 
Church  lays  claim  to  catholicity  of  spirit,  but  this  need  not 
interfere  with  devotion  to  her  doctrines,  institutions  and  tra- 
ditions. The  organization  of  the  first  American  Presbj^tery 
was  effected  in  a  spirit  of  tolerance.  To  form  it  came  the 
Scotch-Irishman,  the  Scotchman,  the  Irishman  and  the  Puri- 
tan missionary  from  New  England,  while  London  Presby- 
terians supplied  the  funds  for  their  support.  We  may  well 
love  our  Church  for  her  broad  fraternity  toward  all  who  re- 
flect the  image  of  Christ.  "  Presbyterianism,"  says  one,  "is 
truest  to  catholicity  in  that  it  insists  upon  those  things  that 
are  truly  catholic  and  declines  to  mingle  with  those  things 
that  are  not  catholic."  Our  Church  may  be  loved  for  the 
honor  she  puts  on  the  Word  of  God,  demanding  that  every 
doctrine  and  rite  shall  find  its  authority  in  the  "Book,  "the 
only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice."  We  may  love  her 
for  her  thrilling  history,  for  her  martyrdoms  to  principle,  for 
her  army  of  confessors,  for  her  strenuous  maintenance  of  the 
principle  that  none  but  God  can  bind  the  conscience,  for  her 
friendliness  to  liberty,  for  the  part  she  has  borne  in  the  pro- 
motion of  civil  and  religious  reform,  and  for  her  adherence  to 
that  form  of  belief  which,  to  use  the  words  of  Froude,  "  has 
borne  ever  an  inflexible  front  to  illusion  and  mendacity,  and 
has  preferred  rather  to  be  ground  to  powder  like  flint  than  to 
bend  before  violence  or  melt  under  enervating  temptation." 
Then,  with  dependence  on  God,  with  enlarged  apj)reciation  of 
opportunity  and  intensified  love  for  our  Zion,  may  we  enter 
the  second  century  of  organized  life  as  a  Church. 


211 


THE 


Pre5byteria9  /Tlir^isters'  pupd 


OK  1759 


Rev.  WM.    P.    BREED,    D.  D,    President 


In  Aid  of  Presbyterian  Ministers 
ONLY 
And  their  Families. 


Instituted  by  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods  of  1756-8.  Chartered  en 
their  apphcation  January  nth,  1759. 

Put  in  operation  as  appointed  by  the  Synod's  Committee  of  June  14th, 
1759,  ^^^  afterwards  commended  by  Synods  and  Assembly,  "down  to 
the  discussion  ending  in  the  separations  of  1837." 

"  A  desirable,  and  in  some  respects  essential,  as  well  as  self-support- 
ing. Ministerial  Aid." 

Has  never  yet  failed  to  meet  any  one  of  its  liabilities  at  their  maturity. 

Business  done  by  mail.  Propositions  of  Insurance  forwarded  when 
date  of  birth  is  sent,  and  correspondence  solicited  on  any  desirable 
contract  plan  in  use. 


Assets,  January  ist,  1888, $332,285  66 

Reserve  for  Policy-holders,    .         .     .    $216,380  00 
Premium  Payment  Deposits,        .         .       12,079  43 

228,459  43 


Surplus, $103,826  23 

$M5  OF  ASSETS  FOR  EACH  $100  OF  LIABILITY. 


DIRECTORS. 


Mr.  Robert  Patterson,      Mr.  Frank  Olcott  Allen,      Mr.  Samuel  Field, 
Mr.  James  T.  Young,       Rev.  W.  P.  Breed,  D.D.,     Mr.  James  F.  Magee. 

OFFICERS. 
Rev,  W.  p.  BREED,  D.D.,  President. 

Rev.  N,  L.  UPHAM,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

Mr.  ROBERT  P.  FIELD,  Actuary  and  Treasurer. 


OFFICES,  140  South  Fourth  Street, 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


212 


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H.  McAllister. 


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Syste/natie  Qiuli)^-; 


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directors: 


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d^^ba 


